Gaza city: UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram warned on Sunday that the risk of famine in Gaza City could spread to the central Gaza Strip within weeks unless action is taken.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, Ingram said families are unable to provide food for their children and described the overall situation in the Gaza Strip as "catastrophic." She said Palestinians in eastern and northern parts of Gaza City live under threat of intensified Israeli bombardment.
Ingram said residents are fleeing west toward the sea and that camps and tents along the coastal strip have grown as people move. She cited reports from hospital directors that the number of children with fractures, burns and injuries from Israeli strikes has risen.
She said many residents consider relocating to southern parts of the Strip but are aware that conditions there include shortages of food and drinking water and that airstrikes continue. She said, "There is no safe place in Gaza." She warned famine could extend to the central Gaza Strip within weeks unless action is taken.
Ingram said healthcare workers, humanitarian personnel and journalists have warned of famine for months but "nothing has changed." She said families live in despair and that "there is not enough international pressure to change this reality."
She reported UNICEF-supported clinics have received large numbers of parents seeking nutrition assessments for their children, and that many children are receiving treatment. She said that if conditions do not improve, more children in Gaza will face the risk of starvation.
She confirmed that over 110 children have died so far due to malnutrition, nearly half of them this year. She described the deaths as "man-made" and avoidable and called for food, water and medicine. She called for hundreds of trucks to enter Gaza daily to meet basic needs, and said that is not happening yet.