Another minor dies from severe malnutrition in Gaza

Jerusalem.- The Al Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza reported this Friday the death of Abdel Qader Al Fayyumi, another minor who suffered from severe malnutrition caused by the scarcity of food and basic products in the devastated Palestinian enclave due to Israel’s restrictions. This latest death brings to 114 the number of people who have died in the Strip due to malnutrition. Of this total, 82 were children and 32 were adults.

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In recent weeks, the few hospitals still operating in the enclave have warned of the arrival of an increasingly high number of children with medical problems due to malnutrition. According to the Palestinian authorities, about 70,000 children in Gaza have already reached the stage of clinical malnutrition.

Although Israel allowed aid trucks to re-enter Gaza on May 19, the number has been very limited and its distribution risky, with more than 1,000 deaths from shots fired by the Israeli Army near distribution points or truck routes, according to the Ministry of Health. On top of all that, the aid that ends up in the markets does so at exorbitant prices. The Israeli army blames UN agencies for not collecting and distributing some 950 trucks of aid that are already inside Gaza, but at the border. These organizations, for their part, denounce the obstacles that Israel imposes to collect it.