'We are breaking the bodies and minds of children of Gaza', says WHO Executive Director

Palestinian kids stand at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 7, 2024. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

The minds and bodies of children in Gaza are being broken following two months of aid blockade and renewed strikes, the Executive Director of the World Health Organization Emergencies programmes said on Thursday.

Since Mar 2 Israel has blocked the entry of medical, fuel, and food supplies into Gaza.

"We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza. We are complicit," Deputy Director General Michael Ryan told reporters at the WHO's headquarters.

"As a physician I am angry. It is an abomination," he said.

Israel says the decision to block the supplies was aimed at pressuring Hamas to free hostages as the ceasefire agreement stalled.

"The current level of malnutrition is causing a collapse in immunity," Ryan said, warning that cases of pneumonia and meningitis in women and children could increase.

Israel has previously denied that Gaza was facing a hunger crisis. It has not made clear when and how aid will be resumed.

Israel's military accuses Hamas of diverting aid, which Hamas denies.

The United Nations warned this week that acute malnutrition among Gaza's children was worsening.