ISTANBUL

The Gaza Government Media Office accused Israel on Monday of exacerbating Palestinian children's suffering through its ongoing genocide and blockade, which has led to widespread acute malnutrition affecting more than 65,000 hospitalized children out of 1.1 million facing daily hunger.

Israel is “using starvation and thirst as systematic weapons of war against civilians, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” the office said in a statement.

The statement added that “the continuous closure of border crossings has caused a catastrophic deterioration in health conditions, especially among children and infants.”

The office placed full responsibility on Israel for the worsening humanitarian disaster and for “endangering the lives of hundreds of thousands of children, women and elderly people due to the lack of food, medicine and clean water.”

The statement called for the immediate and unconditional reopening of all border crossings into Gaza to allow the urgent entry of humanitarian aid, nutritional supplements and medical supplies, particularly for children and critically ill patients, “to save lives and halt the catastrophic humanitarian collapse.”

Since March 2, Israel has maintained the closure of Gaza’s main crossings, cutting off food, medical and humanitarian supplies, leading to an unprecedented deterioration of humanitarian conditions, according to reports by human rights organizations.

The Israeli army renewed its assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

More than 52,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.