Geneva - Saba:
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented the deaths of 875 people over the past six weeks in Gaza at aid distribution sites overseen by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is supported by the US and Israel, as well as in areas close to other relief convoys, including UN convoys.
The OHCHR noted that most of the victims fell near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, while 201 others died while passing through routes used by various relief convoys.
Thameen Al-Khitan, a spokesperson for the OHCHR in Geneva, said that the figures were derived from various reliable sources, including humanitarian, health, and human rights organizations.
The United Nations criticized the distribution model followed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, considering it inherently unsafe and violating humanitarian neutrality standards.
For its part, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Tuesday that one in ten children examined in its clinics in Gaza suffers from malnutrition.
Juliette Touma, UNRWA's Director of Communications, revealed during a press conference from Amman that malnutrition rates have risen significantly since the Israeli blockade was tightened last March.
UNRWA explained that it has screened more than 240,000 children under the age of five since the beginning of the year, stressing that cases of malnutrition were rare in Gaza before the war. Touma added that its health teams are noticing severe shortages of medicines, nutritional supplies, and fuel.
The Agency stated that Israel lifted the 11-week ban on the entry of humanitarian aid on May 19, allowing limited shipments from the United Nations, while UNRWA remains banned from bringing aid into the Strip.
In a related development, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced on Monday that more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition last month alone, including more than 1,000 children suffering from severe malnutrition, a continuous increase for the fourth consecutive month.
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