TEHRAN – Health Minister Mohammad Reza Zafarkandi has called on the global community to immediately intervene to end Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and help rescue civilians.
In an open letter addressing international groups, Zafarkandi expressed deep sadness at the devastating situation in Gaza, highlighting the extent of violence that targets women and children is above critical levels, the IRNA reported.
Referring to the collapse of Gaza’s public health system, he described the situation as “the deliberate destruction of the very essence of human life,” calling for global communities to respond promptly and effectively to what they call “ongoing collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, genocide.”
Officials went on to say the toddler is nearly dying in his mother’s arms from hunger and thirst. According to the latest reports, more than 32% of children under the age of 2 suffer from severe malnutrition.
Describing the measures of the Zionist regime, Zafarkandi will ask the global community to take prompt action to establish field hospitals, and to send relief teams to work with international partners to deal with the food crisis, lifting lockdowns, delivering UN humanitarian aid, including food and drugs, and allocating financial resources in the event of an emergency within the next 48 hours.
This is not a letter of demand, but rather a human, ethical and professional responsibility, officials said, stressing that an hour delay would cost innocent lives.
Erase Gaza via star
Israel’s relentless military attacks on Gaza continue to leave a trajectory of death, destruction and hunger as the global community is largely passive, as it faces what many describe as a current deliberate campaign.
On Monday, July 21st, the Israeli strike killed dozens more Palestinians, according to medical sources. Just a day ago, Israeli forces massacred more than 100 Palestinians across the besieged strip – including 92 unarmed civilians who were desperately searching for food near the Jikim intersection in northern Gaza and were shot dead at the aid distribution point of Rafa and Khan Yonis.
The humanitarian crisis reached catastrophic levels under Israeli siege, pushing Gaza to the edge of hunger. Gaza’s 2.3 million residents face starvation in real time as important intersections are sealed and severely restricted.
UNRWA sounded an alarm and revealed that it was receiving “desperate message of starvation” from inside Gaza. In X’s post, the agency wrote: “Food prices have risen 40 times. Meanwhile, just outside Gaza, stocked in warehouses, UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months.”
Calling the crisis “artificial,” Unrwa called for urgent intervention. “The suffering in Gaza is artificial and must be stopped. Lift the siege and help on a safe and large scale.”
WFP reflected these warnings. WFP’s Palestinian representative Antoine Leonard told Al Jazeera of the occupied East Jerusalem (AL-QUDS):
Leonard added that many families have gone for days without food and survived every three days with meals. He noted that only a “very limited” number of charity kitchens are still operating, increasing malnutrition and fainting among civilians is becoming more common.
“(a) There’s a surge in the number of people facing malnutrition and you really see that the situation is reaching levels that you’ve never seen before.”
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