WHO Calls on Israel to Stop the "Disaster" of Famine in Gaza

SadaNews - The Director of the World Health Organization warned on Friday of the ongoing famine in Gaza, calling on Israel to stop this "disaster", noting that at least 370 people have died as a result of hunger in the besieged and devastated sector since the conflict began.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference at the organization's headquarters in Geneva, "It is a disaster that Israel could have avoided, and it can stop it at any moment."

The director of the organization reminded that the United Nations announced on August 22 that a famine condition prevails in some areas of the Gaza Strip, while Israel denied the occurrence of famine, accusing Hamas of looting aid.

Ghebreyesus added that "since the start of the conflict in October 2023, at least 370 people have died from malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 300 in the last two months."

The health ministry affiliated with Hamas confirmed on Friday that the hospitals in the sector "recorded 3 new deaths" resulting from malnutrition in the last 24 hours, "bringing the total death toll to 373, including 134 children."

The Director of the World Health Organization continued that "people are dying of severe hunger while food that could save them is sitting in trucks nearby," stressing that "the death of Gaza's residents will not make Israel safer, and this will not facilitate the release of the detained."

Ghebreyesus deemed that "starving civilians as a war tactic is a war crime that can never be accepted," and "it threatens to legitimize its use in future conflicts."