AID GOING IN, BUT NOT ENOUGH
A 2-year-old girl being treated for a build-up of brain fluid died overnight of hunger, her father told Reuters on Wednesday.
“Mekkah, my little daughter, died of malnutrition and the lack of medication,” Salah al-Gharably said by phone from Deir Al-Balah. “Doctors said the baby has to be fed a certain type of milk … but there is no milk,” he said. “She starved. We stood helpless.”
The deaths from starvation and malnutrition overnight raised the toll from such causes to 154, including at least 89 children, since the war’s start, most in recent weeks.
On Sunday the Israeli military announced steps to ease the supply of food into Gaza, including daily pauses in military operations in some areas and corridors for aid.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the United Nations and its partners had been able to bring more food into Gaza in the first two days of pauses, but the volume was “still far from enough”.
“Most aid is still being offloaded by crowds before reaching where it is supposed to go. But market monitoring shows prices for basic goods are starting to drop – which could point to better operating conditions if aid flows further increase,” it said in an update.
The war began on Oct 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 60,000 people and laid waste to much of the territory, the Gaza health ministry says.
