UN officials have accused Israel of “systematically” preventing supplies from reaching needy Palestinians in Gaza, saying that if urgent action is not taken, at least one-quarter of the enclave’s population may face hunger.
The warnings came on Tuesday, as footage from northern Gaza showed Israeli forces opening fire on Palestinians gathered to collect food.
Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its fifth month, has killed at least 29,878 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The assault began after Hamas the armed group that governs Gaza launched attacks inside Israel on October 7, killing some 1,139 people and taking 253 others captive.
Israel’s subsequent military campaign which has included daily air attacks, a ground offensive into north and central Gaza and the closing of all but one crossing point into the territory has laid much of the Palestinian enclave to waste and triggered a worsening humanitarian crisis.
One in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza suffers from acute malnutrition and wasting and practically all the 2.3 million people in the Palestinian enclave rely on woefully inadequate food aid to survive.
