Palestine ambassador to Nigeria, Abdullah Shawesh has emmphasized the sentiments of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) calling for large-scale assessments and urgent response efforts by way of distribution of humanitarian aid and commercial goods to Palestinians in Gaza.
Shawesh, made this known during a press conference in Abuja, while revealing that the Palestinian unemployment rate is set to soar to 57% during the first quarter of 2024, adding that 100% of Palestinians in Gaza is at severe level of acute food insecurity.
The statement reads:
“As of Wednesday, March 20, the death toll reached 31,819 Palestinian martyrs, with 73,934 injured and nearly 8,500 missing. There arg 709,000 internally displaced perons taking refuge in only 20% of the Gaza Strip. In the Occupied West Bank, there have been 436 martyrs and more than 4,670 injured.
“The Israeli genocidal war took many forms, one of which is preventing the entry of necessary medical supplies, especially for chronic diseases. The health condition of 1000 to 1500 kidney failure patients in the Gaza Strip is rapidly worsening due to the lack of medical services, medication, and other necessities,” he lamented.
Shawesh further took a leaf from the quote of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell at the opening of a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza in Brussels. to buttress his claim of acute malnourishment in the land. “In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people, “…. “This is unacceptable. starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine.”
The Ambassador added: “Malnutrition is a devastating threat to lives across Gaza, as evidenced by the UN published report on March 15, 2024. Where “one in three children under two in the Northern Gaza Strip suffer from acute malnutrition.
“Malutrition among the children is spreading fast and reaching devastating and unprecedented levels.. at least 23 children in Northern Gaza Strip have reportedly died from malnutrition and dehydration in recent weeks, adding to a mounting toll of children killed in the strip in this current conflict- about 13450.
“Nutrition screening conducted by UNICEF and partners in the north in February found that 4.5 per cent of the children in shelters and health centers suffer from severe wasting, the most life threatening from the malnutrition.”
The Palestinian Envoy also condemned the inhuman treatment meted out to about 7,670 Palestinians abducted and jailed in Israeli prisons and detention camps.
“The number of Palestinians abducted and jailed in the last 167 days has reached 7,670 in Israeli prisons and detention camps. The head of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners, Qaddoura Fares, stated that the Israeli occupation prisons administration has intensified its repressive measures against Palestinian prisoners since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. This includes severe beatings, insults, degradation of dignity, and confiscation of the Qur’an from their rooms as a retaliatory policy, which has adversely affected the prisoners’ health.
“Fares emphasized that one of the most targeted prisoners subjected to these degrading measures is the commander Marwan Barghouthi, who has been isolated and physically assaulted, along with captive Thabet Mardawi. He highlighted that these measures pose a threat to their lives,” Shawesh explained.