One million women, girls in Gaza face mass starvation: UN agency

GAZA - One million women and girls are facing mass starvation, violence, and abuse in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said Saturday on social media platform X.

"Hunger is spreading fast in Gaza ... Women and girls are forced to adopt increasingly dangerous survival strategies like venturing out in search of food and water at the extreme risk of being killed," UNRWA said.

It urged lifting the Israeli blockade on Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, and bringing in humanitarian aid "at scale."

The remarks came as Gaza-based health authorities reported on Saturday 11 more deaths, including a child, from famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of hunger-related deaths to 251, including 108 children.

The total number of people killed by Israeli strikes since October 2023 has topped 61,800, with more than 155,000 wounded, according to the health authorities.

On Thursday, 108 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) noted in a joint statement that since March 2, "most major international NGOs have been unable to deliver a single truck of lifesaving supplies" due to Israel's limit on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, and in July alone, over 60 requests from dozens of NGOs were denied under Israel's justification that they are "not authorized to deliver aid."

On Friday, the UN Human Rights Office said that between May 27 and Aug 13, at least 1,760 Palestinians were recorded killed while seeking aid in Gaza, 994 in the vicinity of the non-UN militarized sites and 766 along the routes of supply convoys.