'Nothing can justify this': Gaza warns food will run out in days amid 'brutal' aid blockade, raising fears of 'mass starvation'
Gaza warns food supplies are at high risk of running out within days amid 'brutal' aid blockade.
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All entry points into the Palestinian enclave were sealed by Israeli authorities for the entry of cargo in March - leaving people in Gaza left fighting over water with food supplies running out.
The United Nations has warned that thousands of Palestinian children in the war-torn Gaza Strip are facing an increased threat of starvation.
On Friday, UNICEF confirmed that more than 9,000 children had been admitted for 'acute malnutrition' since the start of the year.
The situation has become more devastating since Israel enforced a total blockade in early March.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement: “For two months, children in the Gaza Strip have faced relentless bombardments while being deprived of essential goods, services and lifesaving care.
“With each passing day of the aid blockade, they face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death – nothing can justify this.”
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'War crime'
Since March 2, Israel has blocked all humanitarian assistance from reaching Gaza.
The World Food Programme said last week that its food stocks in the Gaza Strip have run out under Israel's nearly eight-week-old blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory. Many families are struggling to feed their children.
A displaced Palestinian parent told Amnesty International: “I don’t want my child to die hungry.”
Israel says the blockade is meant to pressure Hamas to release hostages it still holds. Rights groups have called the blockade a "starvation tactic" and a potential war crime.
Israel has said Gaza has enough supplies after a surge of aid entered during the ceasefire and accuses Hamas of diverting aid for its purposes.
Aid workers deny there is significant diversion of aid, saying the UN strictly monitors distribution. They say the aid flow during the ceasefire was barely enough to cover the immense needs from throughout the war when only a trickle of supplies got in.
'Food insecurity'
On Friday, Hamas official Abdel Rahman Shadid said: “Children are dying from the lack of milk, not just from bombs."
Legal critics and human rights campaigners have said that Israel - as an occupying power - has an obligation under international law to provide food and other support to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
These critics assert that the blockade is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) - a global hunger watchdog - say hundreds of thousands of Palestinians across all age groups are suffering high levels of 'food insecurity'.
According to the Gaze Health Ministry, more than 52,400 Palestinians have been killed since the Israel-Gaza conflict begun in October 2023.
On Monday, the UN's highest court commenced hearings into Israel's obligation to "ensure and facilitate" urgently needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories, bringing the ongoing conflict in Gaza back into focus in The Hague.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the hearings part of a "systematic persecution and delegitimisation" of his country.
Speaking in Jerusalem as the hearings began in the Netherlands, Mr Saar called the proceedings "shameful" and said the court is "becoming completely politicised".
A week of hearings has been scheduled in response to a request last year from the UN General Assembly, which asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to weigh in on Israel's legal responsibilities after the country blocked the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from operating on its territory.
In a resolution sponsored by Norway, the General Assembly requested an advisory opinion, a non-binding but legally important decision from the court, on Israel's obligations in the occupied territories to "ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population".
The court is likely to take months to deliver a ruling, but experts say the decision, though not legally binding, could profoundly affect international jurisprudence, international aid to Israel and public opinion.