By Athena Papakosta

The Gaza Strip is starving. The World Food Program (WFP) has temporarily suspended food aid deliveries to the northern Palestinian enclave as the UN sounds the alarm over an “explosion” of child deaths.

“I miss everything. I miss bread” cries a little girl who grows up trapped in a permanent nightmare.

According to UN estimates, 15% of children under the age of two are acutely malnourished in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and, currently, about 5% in the southern part.

In the images broadcast by the world’s largest news agencies, the trucks that manage to arrive to distribute humanitarian aid to the population are surrounded by people in despair. Some haven’t eaten in a week. Food and clean drinking water are hard to come by. Others have fasted for two or even three days, while some cheat their hunger by making “bread” from animal feed.

According to estimates by UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme, at least 90% of children under the age of five have contracted one or more infectious diseases.

“Hungry, weakened and deeply injured children are more likely to get sick, and sick children, especially those with diarrhoea, cannot absorb nutrients properly,” said Mike Ryan, head of emergencies at the World Health Organization.

“The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths,” warns Unicef’s deputy director of humanitarian operations.

Israel denies that it is blocking aid from entering the Palestinian enclave and blames humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza. On the contrary, the UN explains that it is often too dangerous for trucks to cross the border crossing and has called on Israel to open more crossings.

In the northern part of the Gaza Strip in particular, aid distribution is almost impossible, and a month ago the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA reported that at least 300,000 who remain in the north in Gaza are dependent on their own aid.

At the moment, the World Food Program has announced the suspension of humanitarian aid deliveries to the north until, it says, conditions allow for its safe distribution.

As he explains, he had hoped – this week – to send 10 trucks a day but, a convoy of trucks that started on Sunday moving towards Gaza City had difficulty moving forward as crowds tried to attack the trucks, which were then met with gunfire while were entering the city. The next day, the UN agency reported, trucks were looted between Khan Yunis in the south and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, and a driver was beaten.

The deterioration of the food situation at these rates is “unprecedented worldwide”, the UN points out, with the dead of hostilities approaching 30,000 and the Israeli leadership defying international appeals and preparing for its ground military operation in Rafah where they have more than 1.3 million Palestinians took refuge.