Geneva (dpa -AfX) – According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 57 children died from the consequences of malnutrition during the constant blockade of the Gaza Strip. This was reported by Rik Peeperkorn, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Palestinian areas.
The UN organization has not yet verified this information, said Peeperkorn in a video count. However, the WHO observed an increase in malnourished children. In connection with this, he reported many young patients with pneumonia and gastrointestinal diseases. “You don’t usually die of hunger, but you die of diseases that are connected with it,” he said.
From the WHO headquarters in Geneva it was said that in the past few weeks more than 57 children have died in the course of the food crisis.
Since the beginning of March, the Israeli military has not been leaving aid deliveries in the Gaza Strip. The armed forces accuse the Palestinian terrorist organization of Hamas to sell relief supplies to the needy population at excessive prices and to pay their fighters and weapons with the income.
At the beginning of the week, the UN Nutrition and Agricultural Organization (FAO) warned of a very special famine in the coastal strip. It is based on a current analysis that the entire population of the Gaza Strip – around 2.1 million people – are affected by acute nutritional uncertainty. Of these, 244,000 people would already suffer from a famine, it said ./al/dp/jha