Gaza (UNA/WAFA) – UNICEF spokesman James Elder said that Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip are suffering greatly to secure a single daily meal for their children, as “amounts of bombs and missiles are entering Gaza far exceeding the amount of food entering.”
He added that the situation is worsening day by day, in light of the ongoing blockade and Israeli attacks, describing the humanitarian situation in the Strip as "bleak, horrific, and hopeless."
Elder, who has been in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, for some time on an official mission, spoke in an interview with Anadolu Agency.
The UNICEF spokesperson noted that hopes raised by talk of a ceasefire in Gaza have improved slightly, with the region experiencing a partial flow of aid and limited improvements in water and food supplies.
He added, "However, this optimism soon faded after the Strip faced a catastrophic aid blockade."
He added, "The people of Gaza are living through harsh nights under bombardment, spending their days fleeing hunger and explosions," stressing that "everything we knew about people's resilience has been completely shattered."
He continued: “The world seems preoccupied only with seeing the wounded and talking about aid, ignoring the enormous psychological burden the population is experiencing, and the harsh reality for families forced to flee repeatedly after losing everything.
He pointed out that many families have been living in tents for six months, under tank fire, and are now being forced to move again, emphasizing that Gaza has been experiencing this tragic situation for more than 600 days.
He emphasized that Gazan families have not celebrated Eid al-Adha for two years, and that instead they gather in silence to remember those they have lost, "amid a heavy sense of sadness and disappointment."
He pointed out that mothers go two days without food just to be able to provide a single meal for their children.
“No Eid celebrations, no homes to shelter them, nothing. People spent their lives building homes and gardens, but all of that suddenly disappeared,” the speaker continues.
He noted that estimating the number of children dying of hunger daily or weekly is extremely difficult under such circumstances, but stressed that children suffering from malnutrition die "from simple causes that could have been easily treated."
He explained that "acute malnutrition increases a child's likelihood of dying from simple things by 10 times. This is the deadly cycle that kills children: malnutrition, water contamination, and lack of basic healthcare."
He also warned that access to hospitals is no longer safe for sick or malnourished children, stressing that the hospitals themselves lack basic medical supplies.
There are 19 partially functioning hospitals in Gaza, including 8 government hospitals and 11 private hospitals, out of a total of 38. There are also 9 field hospitals operating in the Strip.
Eldar continued, "Humanitarian aid may only amount to 10% of what people actually need. Far more bombs and rockets are entering Gaza than food."
He explained that during the ceasefire period, the United Nations and its Palestinian partners were able to establish 400 distribution points to provide humanitarian aid, stressing that through this system, they were able to effectively reach those in need.
However, the spokesman criticized the new aid distribution system currently being imposed in southern Gaza by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund.
He described it as "military in nature" and involving only limited distribution sites, saying: "This system leads to daily casualties, with children being killed simply for trying to get a box of food."
He continued, warning: “Now a system has been deliberately designed (by Israel) to push the population from the north of the Strip to the south, and it threatens to undermine the effective aid distribution system we have established.”
Beyond the supervision of the United Nations and international relief organizations, Israel began implementing a plan to distribute humanitarian aid on May 27 through the so-called "Gaza Humanitarian Relief Foundation," an organization supported by Israel and the United States but rejected by the United Nations.
Aid was distributed in the so-called "buffer zones" in southern and central Gaza, amid growing signs that this plan was failing. Distribution operations were repeatedly interrupted by the influx of starving people, and Israeli forces opened fire on those waiting for aid, leaving civilians dead and wounded.
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