UNICEF<\/a>, who is fresh from a visit to Gaza, noted that \u201cthe marks of deep suffering and hunger were visible on the face of families and children.\u201d<\/p>\nHe was briefing journalists in New York about his five-day visit in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grave risk of famine<\/p>\n
\u201cGaza now faces a grave risk of famine,\u201d he said, briefing journalists in New York about his five-day mission to the enclave, the West Bank and Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something that has been building up, but we now have two indicators that have exceeded the famine threshold.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
The crisis can only be addressed through unrestricted flow of aid into Gaza, with commercial supplies also allowed to enter to help address people\u2019s needs. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Nearly a week since the Israeli announcement to allow the scale up of aid and tactical pauses to allow safe passage of UN convoys, OCHA reported that the aid that has entered Gaza so far remains insufficient, while UN convoys continue to face impediments and danger along the routes provided by the Israeli authorities. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCivilians must always be protected and community-level aid delivery at scale must be facilitated, not obstructed,\u201d said OCHA. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Starved, bombed and displaced \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe children I met are not victims of a natural disaster. They are being starved, bombed, and displaced,\u201d Mr. Chaiban said. \u00a0He noted that more than 18,000 boys and girls have been killed since the beginning of the war, \u201can average of 28 children a day, the size of a classroom, gone.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
While in Gaza, Mr. Chaiban met with the families of the 10 children killed and 19 injured by an Israeli airstrike as they were queuing for food with their mothers and fathers at a UNICEF-supported nutrition clinic in Deir Al-Balah. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Discussion with Israeli authorities<\/p>\n
Engaging with Israeli authorities in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, UNICEF \u201cpressed for a review of [Israel\u2019s] military rules of engagement to protect civilians and children,\u201d Mr. Chaiban said.<\/p>\n
Simultaneously, UNICEF also called for more humanitarian aid and commercial traffic to come in to stabilise the situation and reduce the desperation of the population.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren should not be getting killed waiting in line at a nutrition centre or collecting water, and people should not be so desperate as to have to rush a convoy,\u201d he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is happening on the ground is inhumane.\u201d Mr. Chaiban said, hoping for a sustained ceasefire and a political way forward. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The months-long deprivation of most life-sustaining basic goods has led to a deepening of the crisis. \u00a0More than…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":111327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[99,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-111326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-israel","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114955746305288360","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}