Palestinian children suffering from malnutrition in Rafah. (Credit: Mohammed Salem/Reuters)
As hunger, starvation and malnutrition plague Palestinians suffering from seven weeks of total blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel, the Israeli army has said its Golani Brigade soldiers fighting in the Strip are complaining of food shortages due to Passover restrictions and that the army was ensuring soldiers would receive "the necessary food."
After the unit's troops complained on Thursday they were not receiving enough food due to kosher-for-Passover rules, the chief of the Technological and Logistics Directorate, Maj. Gen. Mishel Yanko, entered the Strip Friday morning to inspect the matter personally, Times of Israel reported, citing an army statement.
Yanko met with several units in Gaza “in order to ensure that the troops are receiving the necessary food and logistics response.” The Israeli army says it has a 24/7 hotline running throughout Passover where soldiers can issue complaints regarding food.
Yesterday, reports emerged that Golani soldiers who are fighting in Rafah complained to their parents that they were only eating matza with chocolate spread and had not had a single hot meal in several days.
According to the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), nearly 3,700 children were hospitalized for acute malnutrition in March, an 80 percent increase from February.
Hunger in Gaza on the rise as complete blockade enters seventh week
The Gaza Strip is witnessing a growing crisis of malnutrition, particularly among children, the United Nation media office reported on Thursday. As Israel refuses to remove its ban on all goods and deliveries into Gaza, the suffering of the population is intensifying and there is a shortage of food and vegetables.
OCHA visited displacement sites in Khan Younis last week and reported that thousands of Palestinians are living in overcrowded shelters amid a severe lack of shelter, food, water, and medicine.
The office noted that U.N. partners observed a rise in acute malnutrition rates and a significant drop, over two-thirds, in the number of children receiving supplementary feeding during the month of March.
OCHA confirmed that Israeli authorities have continued to deny approval for most coordinated humanitarian missions.
As far back at November 2024, Israel had decimated more than 70 percent of Gaza agricultural land and killed 90 percent of its cattle. Since relaunching it assault on the Strip, the Israeli army has taken control of large swaths of the enclave, pushing people toward population centers, thus cutting them off from the more agricultural areas.
