PALESTINE

Mon 04 Mar 2024 8:50 pm - Jerusalem Time

World Health Organization: Children die of hunger in two hospitals in northern Gaza

The World Health Organization warned that children were dying of hunger in two hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, which its mission visited at the weekend, observing a severe shortage of food, fuel and medicine.


WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the agency's two weekend visits to Al Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals "were the first since October 2023, despite our efforts to reach northern Gaza more regularly."


Tedros pointed out in a post on the “X” platform that the picture is “bleak,” noting that “the situation in Al-Awda Hospital is horrific, given the destruction of one of the buildings.”


He said that Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only hospital with a children's department in northern Gaza, is crowded with patients. He added, "Food scarcity led to the death of ten children."


In total, medical sources announced the death of at least 16 children in northern Gaza, due to malnutrition and the lack of treatment.


Last week, the United Nations warned that famine in Gaza had become “almost inevitable” due to the Israeli aggression against the Strip.


In addition to the severe food shortage in the two hospitals, Tedros warned that the power outage "poses a serious threat to patient care, especially in sensitive departments such as the intensive care and neonatal units."


He said that the mission delivered 9,500 liters of fuel to each of the two hospitals at the end of the week, along with basic medical supplies, pointing out that what was delivered met "a small part of the urgent, life-saving needs."


The Director-General of the World Health Organization renewed his call on Israel to "ensure the safe and orderly delivery of humanitarian aid."


He said, "Civilians, especially children and medical teams, need immediate reinforced aid," stressing that "the basic medicine for all these sick people is peace. It is a ceasefire."

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World Health Organization: Children die of hunger in two hospitals in northern Gaza

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