"My children are crying at home from hunger and I have nothing to give them," said one mother. "I can't afford to buy what we need. There's simply no way to survive."
Queuing for dwindling aid in Gaza, March 13 -- image via the UNRWA
By Julia Conley, Common Dreams
After a four-day mission to the West Bank and Gaza, a top official for the United Nations' children's welfare agency on Sunday described the effects that Israel's blockade on all humanitarian aid into the latter territory has had on roughly 1 million children in recent weeks, and demanded that lifesaving essentials—currently "stalled just a few dozen kilometers outside the Gaza Strip"—be allowed into the enclave.
Edouard Beigbeder, Middle East and North Africa regional director for the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), said that during his most recent trip to Gaza he witnessed how "1 million children are living without the very basics they need to survive—yet again," following Israel's decision in early March to once again block all aid in a purported effort to pressure Hamas into accepting a U.S. hostage release plan.
The blocking of food, water, medications, and other essential supplies is a violation of "international humanitarian law," said Beigbeder.
"Civilians' essential needs must be met, and this requires facilitating the entry of lifesaving assistance whether or not there is a cease-fire in place," he said. "Any further delays to the entry of aid risk further slowing or shuttering essential services and could fast-reverse the gains made for children during the cease-fire."
Israel's blockade has left a water desalination plant in Khan Younis without electricity, allowing it to run at just 13% capacity and "depriving hundreds of thousands of people from drinkable water and sanitation services," said Beigbeder.
He particularly warned of the blockade's impact on some of Gaza's most vulnerable residents—premature newborns and children under the age of two who need access to lifesaving vaccines and medical equipment that have been languishing in delivery trucks just outside the Gaza Strip for two weeks.
UNICEF has managed to deliver 30 continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines to aid premature newborns with acute respiratory syndrome, but Beigbeder warned that "approximately 4,000 newborns are currently unable to access essential lifesaving care due to the major impact on medical facilities in the Gaza Strip."
"Every day without these ventilators, lives are lost, especially among vulnerable, premature newborns in the northern Gaza Strip," he said.
Beigbeder's warning came as the operator of 10 charity food kitchens in Gaza told Al Jazeera that it has only been able to operate two distribution centers since Israel began blocking aid again following the cease-fire that began in January.
"We had 80 pots every day that we were serving to people," Omar Abuhammad, a coordinator with the Heroic Hearts organization, told the outlet. "Now we're working on about 20... As the main source of food for [people], we no longer have the ability to serve them."
Abuhammad said the organization had been able to serve about 40,000 Palestinians in Deir el-Balah each day before the newest blockade was imposed, but now it is only able to help 10,000 people daily.
Om Mahmoud, a displaced woman in Deir el-Balah, told Al Jazeera that she "used to rely on this simple community kitchen for food, but now even they are struggling to feed us."
"My children are crying at home from hunger and I have nothing to give them," said Mahmoud. "I can't afford to buy what we need. There's simply no way to survive."
Beigbader said that on the four-day mission to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, "nearly all of the 2.4 million children" living there are being "affected in some way" by Israel's continued assaults.
"Some children live with tremendous fear or anxiety; others face the real consequences of deprivation of humanitarian assistance and protection, displacement, destruction, or death. All children must be protected," said Beigbader. "UNICEF continues to do everything we can to protect and support children in the state of Palestine. We are repairing water systems, running mental health sessions, setting up learning centers, and advocating constantly with decision makers for access and for the violence to cease. But this alone is not enough."
Israel has demanded the release of 11 living hostages captured by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in exchange for extending the cease-fire by 50 days and allowing aid into Gaza, but Hamas has objected to the U.S.-drafted proposal because it does not include a firm timeline for a permanent cease-fire.
As Israel has blocked humanitarian aid to pressure Hamas to accept the cease-fire extension, it has also launched strikes in Gaza, including a drone strike that killed three men who a witness in the Bureij refugee camp said were collecting firewood due to the lack of cooking gas stemming from the blockade.
Israel had claimed the men were planting roadside bombs.
A woman at the scene told Al Jazeera that "the young men were busy, not very far away from me, collecting firewood. But without warning, a missile hit them. Some other people were injured. We climbed a hill to try to help them, and we were shocked to see a quadcopter overhead. We are so terrified."
Hani Mahmoud of Al Jazeera reported on Monday that "this is not the first time we're seeing this happen since the cease-fire began on January 19."
"Just now, a drone is hovering above in the western part of Gaza City," Mahmoud said. "It is buzzing and casting fear on the population. The streets have been emptied of people because of concerns over more attacks."
Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
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