The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that it is currently known that 99 people have died from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip this year and that the real number is likely higher.
Among those who died from malnutrition were 29 children under the age of five, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
Residents of the Gaza Strip "have limited access to basic services, face repeated displacement and are now suffering from a blockade of food supplies," Ghebreyesus said.
He warned that malnutrition is widespread and that the number of hunger-related deaths is rising.
"In July, 12.000 children under five were identified as suffering from acute malnutrition, the highest monthly number ever recorded," the WHO chief stressed.
International outcry over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has increased pressure on Israel, which is accused of using food as a weapon, while United Nations agencies constantly warn of famine in the devastated Palestinian territory.
The WHO Director-General called for increased, sustained and unhindered assistance to the entire Gaza Strip.
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