Kids dying from hunger

Scot at centre of warzone says it's getting worse for people by the day

- ANNIE BROWN

A SCOT leading international aid efforts in Gaza has told how hunger has now reached catastrophic levels.

Jamie McGoldrick said: "Children are dying from hunger.

"There is going to be increasing acute malnutrition, especially among older people, the sick and children.

"Overall, there will be a lot of preventable deaths, linked to disease, squalid conditions people are living in and the lack of medical and food supplies."

Jamie, who left his home in Glasgow in December for East Jerusalem, is United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Palestine. The UN asked the veteran aid official to come out of retirement after the Israeli government ousted Lynn Hastings, who previously held the post.

The 67-year-old's career saw him posted to the world's worst trouble spots including Sierra Leonne, Somalia, Yemen and his last assignment was Palestine from 2018-20.

But he said the current crisis in Gaza is the "worst humanitarian catastrophe I have seen".

Jamie is in charge of getting aid into Gaza but faces an uphill struggle.

The flow of aid is being impeded by Israeli restrictions, limited access and gangs of the hungry, as well as black marketeers, ransacking trucks which get through.