Malnutrition up 300 percent as Bezalel Smotrich says Gaza 'should starve'

The number of children in north Gaza that are malnourished has risen 300 percent from May to July, the UN announced on Monday.

The announcement came during a press beefing done by Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Farhan Haq.

In the briefing, Haq said that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was deepening and that there was "a surge in malnutrition levels among children in northern Gaza".

UN partners "noted a [more than] 300 per cent increase in July - when more than 650 cases of acute malnutrition were diagnosed - compared to May when 145 cases were detected," he said.

He added that this was occurring because of "access constraints, shortages in essential supplies, limited availability of fresh produce and meat, poor water and sanitation services and spreading diseases."

In July, Polio was discovered in Gaza's sewage samples, with the water and sewage infrastructure being severely damaged by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

Haq also said that only eight percent of the 50,000 children partners aim to give essential supplies to are reached because of aid issues.

The announcement comes as Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the country should starve Gaza's 2 million people.

During a conference in Yad Binyamin hosted by Israeli media outlet Israel Hayom, Smotrich said that Israel was allowing aid to enter Gaza because it had no choice.

"We can't in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger, even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned."

As well as saying they had to bring aid into Gaza to prolong the war, Smotrich condemned a deal which he claimed would leave most Israeli captives to remain in Gaza.

The UN and humanitarian organisations have previously blamed Israel for stifling the entry of aid into Gaza and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

The Gaza Director for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), Fikr Shalltoot, told The New Arab that people in Gaza are "exhausted and hungry" and that patients were dying from treatable injuries and malnutrition.

"This famine is man-made and is a direct result of the Israeli military denying the entry of sufficient aid and attacking healthcare and infrastructure in Gaza," Shalltoot said, adding that if Israel bears the responsibility of aid and if it allowed aid safe entry into the enclave the famine would immediately be over.

"We call on the UK government and the international community to do what is truly right and moral and insist that aid is allowed into Gaza at scale. They must hold Israel accountable for using starvation as a weapon of war. Israel must stop starving Gaza."

Israel's war on Gaza has killed 39,653 people and left a further 91,535 injured. Haq further added that at least 63 percent of structures in Gaza had been damaged in the war.