GENEVA, March 4. /TASS/. Ten children have died of starvation in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
He noted that WHO representatives had visited the Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip over the weekend. They identified serious levels of malnutrition and shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies. The visits "were the first since early October 2023 despite <...> [WHO's] efforts to gain more regular access to the north of Gaza," Ghebreyesus wrote on his X page.
According to him, Kamal Adwan, the only pediatric hospital in northern Gaza, is "overwhelmed with patients." "The lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children. The lack of electricity poses a serious threat to patient care, especially in critical areas like the intensive care unit and the neonatal unit," the WHO head said. He described the situation at the Al-Awda hospital as "particularly appalling, as one of the buildings is destroyed."
WHO staff delivered 9,500 liters of fuel each to the medical facilities, as well as necessary medical supplies. Ghebreyesus called on Israel "to ensure humanitarian aid can be delivered safely, and regularly." "Civilians, especially children, and health staff need scaled-up help immediately. But the key medicine all these patients need is peace. Ceasefire," the director general summarized.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.