Israel has blocked entry of 40% of Gaza aid, says UN official 

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Palestine has revealed that Israel prevented 40 per cent of humanitarian aid missions from entering the Gaza Strip during February. Jamie McGoldrick stressed that there is an urgent need to increase aid to the Palestinians in Gaza to avoid the very real threat of famine, Al Jazeera has reported. Disease and food insecurity are increasing, he said.

With displaced Palestinians leaving Rafah for Khan Yunis, Deir al-Balah and Al-Mawasi out of fear of a ground attack in the southernmost city in Gaza, McGoldrick noted that there is great concern about an Israeli military invasion of Rafah, because nobody is prepared for it.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on X that, “[Palestinian] children survived bombardment but may not survive a famine. Allow more aid for #Gaza. Ceasefire.”

The senior official attached a short video to his post showing babies in incubators at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. It is clear that one in six children under the age of two in the area suffers from acute malnutrition.

As a result of the war and Israeli restrictions, the residents of Gaza, especially in the Gaza City and North governorates, are on the verge of famine. There is a severe shortage of food, water, medicine and fuel supplies, and around two million Palestinians have been displaced across the Strip, which has been besieged and blockaded by Israel for 17 years.

READ: UNICEF warns of ‘imminent explosion’ in children’s malnutrition deaths in Gaza