Starvation Spreads in Gaza, UN Warns: Hungry Aid Staff Fainting

By Staff, Agencies

The head of the main UN agency serving Palestinians has said his frontline staff are fainting from hunger, as the number of people dying of starvation in Gaza continued to rise and hopes for a ceasefire faded as negotiations collapsed.

“This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave … when caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] said.

At least 45 people have been martyred died of hunger in the last four days. The UN and aid groups blame "Israel’s" blockade of almost all aid into the territory for the lack of food.

Lazzarini said in a statement that a colleague in the territory had told him: “People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.”

He said UNRWA had the equivalent of 6,000 loaded trucks of food and medical supplies waiting in Jordan and Egypt and urged “Israe”l to allow “humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza”.

Reports of people fainting and dropping dead of hunger have emerged in recent days. Civil defense workers have released photographs of gaunt bodies with little more than skin covering their bones.

This comes as international pressure mounted for a breakthrough to end nearly two years of devastating “Israeli” aggression on Gaza.

“Israel” only lets a trickle of aid into Gaza, the vast majority of which is distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation [GHF], a private US firm. GHF operates four food distribution points staffed by US mercenaries, a system which has been described as a death trap.

More than 1,000 people seeking aid have been martyred trying to access supplies in the nearly two months since GHF began operating in Gaza.