A MILLION children are living in Gaza without the basic means of survival, Unicef’s Middle East and North Africa (Mena) regional director Edouard Beigbeder warned today as Israel’s aid blockade entered its 16th day.

Having concluded a four-day visit to the devastated Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, Mr Beigbeder said in a statement that nearly all the 2.4 million children living in Palestinian territories have been affected by the recent conflict.

“Some children live with tremendous fear or anxiety; others face the real consequences of deprivation of humanitarian assistance and protection, displacement, destruction or death,” Mr Beigbeder said.

“Without aid entering the Gaza Strip, roughly one million children are living without the very basics they need to survive — yet again.

“Stalled just a few dozen kilometres outside the Gaza Strip sit more than 180,000 doses of essential childhood routine vaccines, enough to fully vaccinate and protect 60,000 children under two years of age, as well as 20 lifesaving ventilators for neonatal intensive care units.”

Approximately 4,000 newborn babies are unable to access essential lifesaving care, he said, due to Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid — an apparent war crime.

Lives are being lost every day, the Unicef Mena chief said, “especially among vulnerable, premature newborns in the northern Gaza Strip.

“In accordance with international humanitarian law, civilians’ essential needs must be met, and this requires facilitating the entry of life-saving assistance, whether or not there is a ceasefire in place.

“Any further delays to the entry of aid risk further slowing or shuttering essential services and could fast-reverse the gains made for children during the ceasefire.”

Meanwhile, an Israeli drone strike in central Gaza today killed three men by the side of a road near Bureij refugee camp.

The Israeli military claimed the men were planting bombs near its troops.

However, witnesses told reporters after the killings that the men, two brothers and their cousin, were searching for firewood.

Elsewhere, following US strikes on Yemen — which killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children — on Sunday night, the Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi warned that his forces “will confront escalation with escalation.”

“We will respond to the American enemy in its raids, in its attacks, with missile strikes, by targeting its aircraft carrier, its warships, its ships,” Mr Houthi said.

“However, we also still have escalation options. If it continues its aggression, we will move to additional escalation options.”