Push Admin

Article (news)

Gaza population 'starving to death': WHO

ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Palestinians who fled the northern Gaza Strip walk next to their family" s="" shelters="" on="" a="" cold="" day="" in="" Deir="" Al="" Balah="" southern="" Gaza="" January="" Mohammed="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2024/news/01/31/20240131-gaza.jpg"/><figcaption>Palestinians who fled the northern Gaza Strip walk next to their family&#x27;s shelters on a cold day in Deir Al Balah town, southern Gaza Strip, January 30, 2024. <em>Mohammed Saber, EPA-EFE.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>GENEVA, Switzerland -- The population of Gaza is starving to death due to constraints imposed on humanitarian aid, the World Health Organization&#x27;s emergencies director Michael Ryan said on Wednesday.</p><p>The WHO said the risk of famine in the Palestinian territory was already high and on the rise, with the space for humanitarian intervention being increasingly squeezed.</p><p>&quot;This is a population that is starving to death, this is a population that is being pushed to the brink,&quot; Ryan told a press conference.</p><p>&quot;The civilians of Gaza are not parties to this conflict and they should be protected, as should be their health facilities.</p><p>&quot;The Palestinian people in Gaza are right in the middle of a massive catastrophe,&quot; Ryan said, adding that things could get worse.</p><p>Ryan said access to proper nutrition had become a major issue in the Gaza Strip, with the calorie count and the quality of nutrition consumed by Gazans having dropped sharply.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/overseas/01/26/24/gazans-resort-to-grinding-corn-barley-to-make-bread">Struggling with hunger, Gazans resort to grinding corn and barley to make bread</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/27/24/gaza-battles-rage-as-israel-vows-to-shut-out-un-agency">Gaza battles rage as Israel vows to shut out UN agency after war</a></li></ul><p>Populations are not supposed to survive indefinitely on food aid, he said.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s supposed to be emergency food aid to tide people over.</p><p>&quot;And if you mix a lack of nutrition with overcrowding and exposure to cold through lack of shelter... you can create conditions for massive epidemics,&quot; particularly in children.</p><p>&quot;And we&#x27;re seeing them,&quot; Ryan said.</p><p>The space for humanitarian intervention was being constrained in &quot;every aspect&quot;, he added.</p><p>He pointed to the dramatic reduction in the number of operational health facilities and to how efforts to bring aid into the Gaza Strip were constantly disrupted and impeded.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/1/30/israel-hamas-war-rages-in-gaza-as-mediators-push-for-new-truce-1951">Israel-Hamas war rages in Gaza as mediators push for new truce</a></li></ul><div><strong>- &#x27;Extreme challenges&#x27; -</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gx7z0VEbOds?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>The war was triggered by Hamas&#x27;s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.</p><p>Militants also seized about 250 hostages. Israel says 132 of them remain in Gaza including at least 29 people believed to have been killed.</p><p>Following the deadliest attack in Israel&#x27;s history, its military launched an air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 26,900 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the territory&#x27;s health ministry.</p><p>WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency was facing continued &quot;extreme challenges&quot; in propping up Gaza&#x27;s health system.</p><p>&quot;Over 100,000 Gazans are either dead, injured, or missing and presumed dead,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;The risk of famine is high and increasing each day with persistent hostilities and restricted humanitarian access.&quot;</p><p>Tedros said the Nasser medical complex, the chief hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, was now operating with one ambulance, with patients being brought in on donkey carts.</p><p>The WHO attempted to deliver food to the hospital on Tuesday but that aid was stripped from the trucks &quot;by crowds who are also desperate for food&quot;, said Tedros.</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/1/31/un-staff-among-perpetrators-of-october-7-massacre-israel-gov-t-1037">UN staff among perpetrators of October 7 massacre: Israel gov&#x27;t</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/1/31/disguised-israeli-soldiers-storm-west-bank-hospital-837">CCTV footage shows disguised Israeli soldiers storming West Bank hospital</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UEIKJeyCZkI?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The population of Gaza is starving to death due to constraints imposed on humanitarian aid, the WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said, Wednesday.