As strict Israeli restrictions on aid entering Gaza deplete basic supplies, displaced Palestinians told CNN they are struggling to feed their children.
Doctors say that hungry mothers are unable to produce enough milk to breastfeed their babies. Parents arrive at overcrowded health facilities to beg for baby formula.
Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said on Wednesday that at least 20 Palestinians died of starvation in Gaza. The youngest child who died of hunger was one day old, according to Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital. The real number may be higher, as limited access to northern Gaza has hampered the ability of relief agencies to fully assess the situation there.
Israel insists there are “no limits” to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, but its inspection regime on aid trucks means only a small fraction of the amount of food and other supplies that used to enter Gaza daily before the war is allowed in. Login now. Last week, at least 118 people were killed while trying to access food aid in Gaza City, in one of the worst tragedies of the war so far.
Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian coordinator who just returned from a two-day visit to Gaza, warned Thursday that hunger there had reached “catastrophic levels.” “People are hungry, exhausted and traumatized. Many are clinging to life,” Adele Khader, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said earlier this week.
Israel launched its military attack on Gaza after the Hamas militant group killed at least 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 others in southern Israel on October 7.
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