Children in Gaza have told the charity ‘Save the Children’ that they wish to die because they cannot access food and clean water, according to the charity’s humanitarian director Rachel Cummings.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News At One, Ms Cummings said the war in Gaza has inflicted an enormous toll on the mental health of Palestinian children.
“We have children in our child friendly spaces, where we provide psychological support, sharing with us that they now wish to die because there is food and water in heaven.
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“And their family members, their mothers and fathers, are there and they wish to be with them,” she said.
“It is absolutely catastrophic the impact that this is having immediately on children, but this medium and longer-term impact on children is really, really concerning,” she added.
An aid truck in Khan Yunis distributing water to displaced Palestinians
The charity has also observed many children and pregnant and breast-feeding women showing signs of malnutrition.
Ms Cummings said no food has been available to purchase in the market in Deir al-Balah over the last five days, which is typical of the wider situation in Gaza.
She added her team working in the territory also cannot find or buy food.
“The situation gets worse and worse every day, which is impossible and incredible to think about.
“This is symptomatic of the wider picture being that people don’t have enough food to eat.
“They’re rationing food for their children and this is the situation in the whole of Gaza.”
The charity said it has observed many children showing signs of malnutrition
People are ‘hungry, exhausted and terrified’
Ms Cummings said that everyone in Gaza is hungry, exhausted and terrified and have to make very difficult choices when it comes to food.
“They’re bulking out whatever food they have with water they know to be dirty, that they know may cause their children to be sick.”
Save the Children in Gaza is loated around 3km away from the area which Israel has demanded people evacuate from as it continues its air and ground attacks.
Ms Cummings said they can hear “active” and “heavy” gunfire and bombardments.
“There is nowhere safe in Gaza and people being displaced further south into al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, along the beach.
“It’s very, very congested already, overcrowded, and we know that people have nowhere to go. They have no means to move and people making the impossible decision to stay,” she added.
