Israeli aid block costing Gaza children their lives: UNICEF
UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, warns that Israel’s blockade on the entry of humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip is costing Palestinian children their lives.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell warned Saturday that the escalation in child malnutrition in Gaza is “shocking, especially when desperately needed assistance has been at the ready just a few miles away.”
UNICEF, she said, is “being hampered by unnecessary restrictions, and those are costing children their lives.”
According to Russell, “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire continues to provide the only chance to save children’s lives and end their suffering.”
UNICEF has warned that malnutrition was spreading rapidly across Gaza due to restricted aid.
In northern Gaza, it said, one in three children under two years of age suffers from acute malnutrition.
The UN agency said at least 23 children have lost their lives from malnutrition and dehydration in recent weeks.
A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas allowed a surge of aid into Gaza after more than 15 months of full blockade on the Gaza Strip.
But immediately after the first phase of a truce deal expired on March 1, the Tel Aviv regime cut off humanitarian supplies to the coastal territory, using aid as a bargaining chip.
Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, but Hamas insisted on a transition to the second phase, which should lead to a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a complete halt to its military campaign in the besieged territory.
The Palestinian resistance group said Saturday that it will only release an American-Israeli captive only if the regime implements their ceasefire agreement, calling it an “exceptional deal” aimed at getting the truce back on track.
It said long-delayed talks over the second phase would need to begin on the day of the release of the captive and last no longer than 50 days.
Israel also would need to stop barring the entry of humanitarian aid and withdraw from a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt, Hamas said.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas released 33 Israeli captives in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Edan Alexander, who was a soldier with the Israeli military, is believed to be the last living American-Israeli captive held by Hamas in Gaza.
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