UN: A quarter of Gaza's population is one step away from starvation

At least a quarter of Gaza's population - 576,000 people - are one step away from starvation, although the rest of the population is also in dire need of food and as a result some aid trucks have been looted by hungry people, United Nations officials have said. United.

Employees of the UN Aid office have said that the situation in Gaza with 2.3 million inhabitants is very grim and there is a possibility that the situation will worsen even more.

He said that in addition to the quarter of the population facing starvation, one in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza are facing "acute malnutrition" and their bodies are weakening.

Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, has said that this is "the worst level of malnutrition in the whole world".

He has warned that "if nothing changes, starvation is inevitable in northern Gaza" - the first target of Israel's military offensive in Gaza, after Hamas attacks in southern Israel on October 7 last year. killing about 1,200 people, and taking 240 hostages.

Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules Gaza, has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

As an example of the breakdown of civil order, Skau has mentioned that the organization he leads has restarted the delivery of aid to northern Gaza three weeks ago.

However, he said that along the road, trucks were attacked with firearms and looted.

"At the destination they are seeing extremely hungry people", he said.

For this reason, Skau has said that the World Food Program has suspended aid there, until there are conditions for staff operations.

Israel's deputy ambassador to the UN, Brett Miller, has said that although his country's army is fighting Hamas, Israel is doing "everything it can to protect civilians" and is constantly working with aid organizations.

He has accused the UN of refusing to send aid to northern Gaza, as well as some UN officials, who, according to him, are trying to blame Israel for the situation.

Since the start of the offensive in Gaza, it is believed that around 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian health authorities./ REL