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LONDON: Rachael Cummings, the humanitarian director for Save the Children, described the food situation in Gaza as “absolutely desperate” and “the worst it has ever been.”
She spoke to Sky News from Deir Al-Balah on Tuesday, a city in central Gaza where Israeli forces launched a bombing campaign this week and where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter.
“One of my colleagues said to me yesterday: ‘We are all walking together towards death’. And this is the situation now for people in Gaza.
“There is no food for their children; it’s absolutely desperate here,” she said during the video call.
Markets in the territory are devoid of goods, she added, and people with cash are unable to find bread or vegetables to buy.
“My team have said to me: ‘There’s nothing in my house to feed my children, my children are crying all day, every day’.”
Cummings’ remarks came as the UK, along with 24 other nations, issued a joint statement on Monday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and criticizing the US-Israeli model of aid distribution. In recent weeks, hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed while attempting to obtain food from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial organization supported by the US and Israel.
“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the joint statement said.
The 25 countries also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of hostages captured by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks. Sources informed Reuters that Israel suspects some hostages taken by the armed group may be located near Deir Al-Balah.
Meanwhile, several humanitarian organizations, including UNRWA and the Norwegian Refugee Council, have also warned that some of their staff are starving due to low food and drinking water supplies in the territory.
Since Sunday, 21 children have died in Gaza due to severe malnutrition and hunger-related complications, amid shortages of food and medical supplies.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy pledged £40 million ($54 million) for humanitarian assistance in Gaza on Tuesday.
Charity staffer Liz Allcock, who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians in Gaza, welcomed the announcement, but told Sky News: “There have been (similar) statements in the past 21 months and nothing has changed. In fact, things have only got worse. And every time we think it can’t get worse, it does.
“Without a reversal of the siege, the lack of supplies, the constant bombardment, the forced displacement, the killing and the militarization of aid, we are going to collapse as a humanitarian response,” she said.
“And this would do a grave injustice to the 2.2 million people we’re trying to serve.”