UN alarmed about the consequences of the Gaza war for children and the “catastrophic” hunger

UN agencies raised the alarm on Tuesday about the war-torn Gaza Strip, saying that ten children lose one or both legs there every day and half a million Palestinians suffer from “catastrophic” hunger.

Israel continued its bombardment of the Gaza Strip and maintained the siege of the territory’s 2.4 million inhabitants.

A AFP The correspondent witnessed an attack near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza in which five people, including two children, were killed and their bodies left scattered in a pool of blood.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, warned in a briefing in Geneva of the devastating impact of the war on children in the Gaza Strip.

“Basically, every day we lose an average of ten children, one or both legs,” Lazzarini told reporters.

Citing figures from the UN children’s agency UNICEF, he said this number “does not even include arms and hands, and we have many more of those.”

“Ten a day, that’s about 2,000 children after more than 260 days of this brutal war,” said Lazzarini.

He said amputations were often performed “under pretty horrific conditions” and sometimes without anesthesia.

Meanwhile, the Rome-based UN World Food Programme said a new report “paints a grim picture of persistent hunger”.

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership said its March warning of impending famine in the north of the Palestinian territory had not come true.

“However, the situation in Gaza remains dire and there is a high and ongoing risk of famine throughout the Gaza Strip,” the report said, warning against complacency.

It said that around 495,000 people – about 22 percent of the area’s population, according to the UN – were still facing “catastrophic acute food insecurity”.

A further 745,000 people are facing food shortages.