GENEVA: The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency on Thursday voiced concern that children suffering from malnutrition in Gaza will die if emergency provisions are not immediately put in place during Israel's Gaza City military operation.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that its data showed a six-fold increase in the number of children suffering from malnutrition in Gaza City since March.
"We have a population that is extremely weak that will be confronted with a new major military operation," he told a Geneva press club meeting. "Many will simply not have the strength to undergo a new displacement."
"Many of them will not survive," he said of the children, addressing the audience in French. "It is a manufactured and fabricated famine. It is deliberate. Food has been used as an instrument of war," he said.
In May, a global hunger monitor said that half a million people in the Gaza Strip faced starvation
but stopped short of using the term famine.
Israel's military agency that coordinates aid, COGAT, has previously said it invests considerable efforts to ensure aid reaches Gaza and has denied restricting supplies.
Meanwhile, a group of 17 US Senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling for the US to press Israel to grant access and protection to journalists in Gaza. The letter comes one week after an Israeli strike killed a group of Palestinian journalists in the besieged territory.
"The United States must make it clear to Israel that banning and censoring media organisations and targeting or threatening members of the press is unacceptable and must stop," the Democratic senators said in a statement.
The letter to Rubio, a staunch supporter of Israel, said: "We urge you to press the Israeli government to protect journalists in Gaza and allow international media to access the territory."
Last week, an Israeli strike killed four journalists for Al Jazeera, including Qatari television correspondent Anas al-Sharif, as well as two freelance journalists. — Reuters/AFP
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