Lost in Desperation: Child’s 12-Kilometer Journey for Flour
Watan-A poignant video has surfaced, showing a Palestinian child in the Gaza Strip who lost his way after walking more than 12 kilometers in search of flour without success.
In the video, the Palestinian child is seen wandering, searching for flour dropped by airplanes as part of the air relief efforts.
The child says in the video, “I came to get the flour dropped by parachutes, to see if there’s anything to eat,” indicating that he couldn’t find anything.
He explains that he walked barefoot for over 12 kilometers in search of flour, with no luck, mentioning that his family has no food.
Children in Gaza are facing catastrophic conditions due to the ongoing war waged by the occupying army since October last year.
UN warns of imminent famine
Recently, the United Nations renewed its warning that famine in Gaza “has become almost inevitable unless something changes,” with official statistics showing that many children have died from starvation.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated that the United Nations and humanitarian agencies have specific criteria for determining famine status, which has not yet been declared in Gaza despite the catastrophic situation there. However, even before declaring famine status, it would be too late for many.
“We don’t want to reach this situation, and things must change,” he added.
Dozens of deaths due to malnutrition
Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson for the World Health Organization, said that according to official statistics collected by the Ministry of Health in Gaza, dozens of children have officially died due to malnutrition.
He added that this number is certainly lower than the actual figures.
Laerke pointed out that these deaths are very alarming warning signs because food security in Gaza before this conflict was not as bad as it is now.
“People had food, they were able to produce their food… And now even producing food in Gaza has become almost impossible.”
