GAZA, (PIC)
An infant and a young woman died on Saturday from severe malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza with an estimated 300,000 people there facing famine as Israel prevents aid distribution.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, a two-month-old female infant died of malnutrition and dehydration at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
Starvation and dehydration also killed a young woman at Al-Shifa Hospital, where three more young people already died of the same cause last Friday, spokesman for the ministry Ashraf al-Qudra said.
These new victims increased the number of known starvation deaths to 25 in Gaza, spokesman Qudra added.
The spokesman expressed his belief that “the increase in death from malnourishment and dehydration confirms that the famine in northern Gaza has reached deadly levels.”
As Israel’s severe restrictions on allowing aid into the Gaza Strip have drained essential supplies, displaced Palestinians say they are struggling to feed their children.
Starving mothers are unable to produce enough milk to breastfeed their babies, while parents arrive at overwhelmed health facilities pleading for infant formula, journalists reports from Gaza.
Gazan civilians have lost on average tens of kilograms of weight, and people in northern Gaza rush to grab aid from infrequent humanitarian drops, according to relief workers.
Health workers also say they cannot offer life-saving treatment to malnourished Gazans because the Israeli occupation army’s bombardment and siege has crushed the medical system.
