A senior United Nations official has raised fears that the citizens of Gaza are starving as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.
Carl Skau, deputy director of the UN World Food Programme, says nine out of 10 people living in the region are unable to eat everyday. This is because only a small fraction of the necessary aid is getting into the Strip, he says.
Skau claims conditions in Gaza have made delivering aid “almost impossible”, reports the BBC. Israel however says it must continue its air strikes on the region as it looks to eliminate Hamas and free Israeli hostages.
Lt Col Richard Hecht, from the Israel Defence Forces, said “any death and pain to a civilian is painful, but we don’t have an alternative”. He claimed Israel is “doing everything we can to get as much as possible inside the Gaza Strip”.
IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi was filmed telling soldiers the Hamas network is “collapsing” this week. It prompted him to encourage them to “press harder”.
While the Joe Biden administration in the United States used emergency law to bypass Congress to sell 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106m (£85m) to Israel.
Movement of aid – including food – has been limited in Gaza since fighting broke out on October 7 when Hamas launched a surprise attack. It killed 1,200 people with a further 240 taken hostage.
It led to Israel closing its borders with Gaza and launching airstrikes onto the area. This restricted aid that Gazans had previously relied on.
The Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, claims attacks by Israel have killed more than 17,700 Gazans, including 7,000 children. The closure of borders has meant only the Rafah crossing, bordering Egypt, has been open.
This has allowed only limited amounts of aid into Gaza. This week however, Israel agreed to open the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into Gaza in the next few days for lorry inspections.
They would then have to head to the Rafah crossing to enter the Strip. Skau, who visited Gaza last week, said he felt the “fear, the chaos and despair” of those living in the area. He claimed nine out of 10 families spend “a full day and night without any food at all”.
Families in Khan Younis in the south of Gaza now say the situation is dire. The city itself is surrounded on two front by Israeli tanks, as IDF chiefs believe Hamas leaders are hiding in underground tunnels there.
Dr Ahmed Moghrabi, from the city’s Nasser Hospital, told the BBC: “There is not enough food, there is not enough food, only rice, only rice can you believe? We eat once, once a day, only.”
Dr Moghrabi says his daughter repeatedly asks for food such as sweets, apples, or other fruit. He says his team at the city’s last surviving hospital have “lost control” with the levels of injuries in recent days.
