A United Nations agency has raised concerns about the alarming rate of malnutrition among children in Gaza, with one in every 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) found to be malnourished. The situation is dire, with child hunger surging across the territory amid the continuing Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini described the situation for starving children as “engineered and man-made”, citing Israel’s punishing prevention of aid entering Gaza, which has led to “severe shortages of nutrition supplies”.
Lazzarini emphasized the need for the UN to be allowed to do its work in Gaza, particularly bringing in “humanitarian assistance at scale, including for children”. “Any additional delay to a ceasefire will cause more deaths,” he warned, noting that more than 870 starving Palestinians had been killed so far while trying to access food from the highly criticized distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the United States.
UNRWA’s communications director, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a videolink from Amman, Jordan, that “medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out”.
“Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March,” Touma said. “One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries,” she added.
Andee Clark Vaughan, an emergency nurse with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA) based in Gaza, described how Israeli authorities had confiscated baby formula from medical workers entering the territory. “Immune systems are so compromised here because of the malnutrition,” Vaughan said, highlighting the plight of Palestinian mothers who are so malnourished that they are unable to produce breast milk to feed their infants. “What we’ve been seeing here is moms trying to do their utmost best, mixing water – which is often contaminated – with beans or lentils just to make something of sustenance to get these kids fed and get them nutrients,” Vaughan added.
The situation is critical, with UNICEF reporting that last month, more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition.
This represents an increase for the fourth month in a row. UNRWA has over 6,000 trucks of food, hygiene supplies, medicine, and medical supplies waiting to enter Gaza, but they are unable to do so due to the Israeli blockade. “The world cannot continue to look away,” Touma urged.