Gaza Talks Resume in Cairo as Suffering Worsens Under Israeli Campaign
Editor
24 August 2024 23:46 WIB
DISEASE SPREADING
Continuing the war will worsen the plight of Gaza's 2.3 million people, nearly all of them homeless in tents or shelters among the ruins, with malnutrition rampant and disease spreading, and risk the lives of remaining Israeli hostages.
The Oct. 7 attack killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies. Israel's Gaza campaign has killed more than 40,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say.
U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said in a Friday update that the amount of food aid entering Gaza in July was one of the lowest since October when Israel imposed a full siege.
OCHA said that in July the number of children with acute malnutrition in northern Gaza was four times higher than in May, while in the more accessible south, where fighting is less severe, the number more than doubled.
The World Health Organisation said on Friday a 10-month-old baby had been paralyzed with polio, the first such case in the territory in 25 years, raising fears of a wider outbreak given the lack of proper sanitation for people living in ruins.
More warfare also risks major new escalations, with Iran still weighing retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on its territory last month.
Meanwhile, U.S. Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began an unannounced visit to the Middle East on Saturday to discuss ways to avoid any new escalation in tensions that could spiral into a broader conflict, as the region braces for a threatened Iranian attack against Israel.
Fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah since Oct. 7 has ramped up recently, including with Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon and into the Bekaa, and with more Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel.
REUTERS
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