About 3,500 children are currently facing the dire threat of death in Gaza due to malnutrition and the lack of essential nutritional supplements, according to the government media office. The spectre of famine looms larger each day, with a grim forecast of increased fatalities resulting from hunger. Ismail Thawabta, the director of the office, said on Monday that 700,000 people endure daily famine conditions due to Israel's obstruction of aid entry. Additionally, approximately 15,000 trucks remain stranded at border crossings, exacerbating the crisis. Furthermore, the situation has prevented 25,000 wounded individuals from seeking treatment abroad. Israel's control over the Rafah crossing has significantly impacted their access to essential medical care. This heartbreaking reality underscores the urgent need for action to prevent further suffering and loss of life. Thawabta stressed that the floating port built by the United States did not do anything to stop the famine in the northern Gaza Strip, adding that it was used in the Nuseirat massacre, which claimed hundreds of martyrs and wounded. Also on Monday, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced that 28 deaths and 66 injuries had arrived in Gaza Strip hospitals as a result of the Israeli aggression, during the past 24 hours, which brings the Israeli war on the Strip to 37,626 deaths and 86,098 injuries since 7 October. In a related context, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), called on Monday to confront Israel's attempts to end the agency's operations, which provide humanitarian aid in Gaza and other areas in the region. Lazzarini said, during a meeting of the agency's advisory committee: "Israel has long been critical of the agency's mandate. But it is now seeking to end UNRWA's operations by rejecting the agency's status as a United Nations entity supported by an overwhelming majority of member states." On the ground, Israeli occupation army radio reported that the army had dropped 50,000 bombs on the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, 5% of which did not explode, adding that estimates by the security establishment indicate that Hamas is using bomb remnants to manufacture its weapons. For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, announced that it bombed Ashkelon, Sderot, and the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip with missile salvos, shortly after sirens sounded in these areas. The Al-Quds Brigades said that its fighters bombed with mortar shells a position of Israeli occupation army soldiers and vehicles penetrating south of the Tal Al-Sultan neighbourhood, west of Rafah. It also said that its fighters also bombed with mortar shells a position of Israeli occupation soldiers on the supply line in the Netzarim axis.
