130,000 children trapped in Gaza without food or medicine for 50 days

Palestinian children queue at a food distribution kitchen in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Nov. 22, 2024. | Abdel Kareem Hana / AP

An estimated 130,000 children under 10 have been trapped for 50 days without access to food or medical aid in northern Gaza, an international charity warned Monday.

According to Save the Children, the area is almost entirely inaccessible to aid workers, cutting Palestinians off from supplies despite warnings of famine. Those in northern Gaza have been cut off from food, water, and medical aid since Oct. 6, when Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) declared the area a closed military zone.

Israel ignored pleas from the United Nations to halt its “blatant disregard for basic humanity” later that month. The UN warned that the whole of North Gaza governorate was at risk of dying, but the IDF has repeatedly denied or impeded attempts by aid groups to access the area.

A mother of two, who works for a partner organization of Save the Children in northern Gaza, shared her harrowing experience. She said: “I am trapped with my children under relentless bombs, rockets, and bullets, with nowhere to run.

“My mother is paralyzed, and I cannot leave her behind. My brother has been killed, my husband was taken, and I don’t know if he’s alive. Our home was destroyed over our heads, and we survived by a miracle.

“With no food, no clean water, and constant fear, both my children have developed rashes, and my daughter is passing blood, but there is no medicine, no help, and absolutely nothing I can do.”

Save the Children says it has food parcels for 5,000 families and 725 hygiene kits but has been unable to deliver to the area for over seven weeks. A consultant employed by the charity, using the pseudonym Jawad, said:

“We struggle with the shortages of children’s food. And it’s insanely expensive if available. A box of formula milk is 80 shekels [$22 USD]. We no longer have hospitals, medical supplies, or teams. We try to keep our children as healthy as possible. But unfortunately, due to the lack of nutrition, our children do not have strong immunity.”

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (U.K) Director Ben Jamal said: “Israel has ignored the steps demanded by the ICJ following its ruling that the case that Israel was committing genocide was plausible — in particular that it does not create conditions that could lead to the destruction of the population and must allow access to humanitarian aid.

“The Save the Children report makes clear in horrific detail how Israel’s continuation of genocidal policies is impacting children.”

According to the UN, 44% of those killed by Israeli forces are children, and the largest category of children killed are between the ages of five and nine-years-old — a reality which Jamal says “should chill every decent human being to their marrow.”

He added the fact that Western governments “continue to arm the state committing these grotesque crimes should enrage” people and encourage them to take action — including by joining boycott and divestment campaigns.”

The death toll in Gaza has reached over 44,000, although a methodology published in the Lancet medical journal has suggested the true number could be as high as 186,000.

Morning Star

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CONTRIBUTOR

Elizabeth Short

Elizabeth Short writes for Morning Star, the socialist daily newspaper published in Great Britain.