Children are facing a “catastrophic” situation in Gaza, with parents left with no choice but to give them salty water, according to the UN chidren’s aid agency Unicef.
Toby Fricker, a spokesperson for the body, told BBC News the shortages that existed in Gaza even before the current conflict had been “raised to another level”.
“One of our staff members, she has a four-year-old, a seven-year-old, and she’s just trying to keep girls safe, to keep them alive on an everyday basis,” he said.
“She spoke about how they’re just drinking salty water, and her daughter’s saying, ‘Mum, why can’t I have the normal water back we used to have in regular days?’
Asked about the aid supplies that have now been able to enter Gaza, Fricker said: “There have been supplies in, but it’s extremely minimal.
“When you see the immense needs on the ground that we have, there needs to be many, many, many more.”
Fricker called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” and the scaling up of aid supplies into Gaza “on a sustained basis”.
“What we’re seeing now on an everyday basis is that children are being killed, children are being wounded, maimed,” he said.
“And that’s the number one thing – to protect children’s lives and to keep children alive.”
“Hundreds and hundreds of patients” are stuck in hospitals in the north of Gaza, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says
Doctors say Israel told staff to evacuate Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City on Sunday but that moving patients – many of whom are in intensive care – is impossible.
The Palestinian Red Crescent says Israeli air strikes are continuing in the area.
About 14,000 civilians are also understood to be sheltering in the hospital and its grounds
It comes as Israel’s military says it is expanding its ground offensive in Gaza, saying troops killed “dozens of terrorists” during clashes overnight
Israel has been bombing Gaza since the 7 October Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 people and saw 230 people kidnapped as hostages.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 8,000 people have been killed since Israel’s retaliatory bombing began.
