More than 9,000 Youngsters in Gaza Hospitalised for Acute Malnutrition in October, According to UN Figures.
Although a cessation of hostilities was put in place two months back, malnutrition continues to take a toll among Gaza’s young. The latest UN figures indicate that in excess of 9,000 children were admitted to hospital with acute malnutrition in October by itself.
Even though the direct risk of famine has diminished for the bulk of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza after the truce declaration on 10 October, the UN and other aid agencies report persistent constraints around their aid convoys. Officials report these shipments fall well below the needs of a population enfeebled and distressed by a prolonged two-year war, homelessness, and living in inadequate housing.
“At healthcare centers in Gaza, I saw a number of infants who had a weight below one kilogramme, their small frames struggling with the fight for life,” said Tess Ingram, a representative of the UN child protection agency Unicef.
Alarmingly Elevated Numbers Remain
According to Unicef figures, 9,300 children were received care for severe acute malnutrition in October. This is considerably lower than the maximum of 14,000 children reported in August, but much more than the child malnutrition rate observed during the earlier truce in February and March of this year.
“It’s still a shockingly high number,” Ingram noted, speaking to reporters by video from Gaza.
That October, about 8,300 pregnant and breastfeeding women were also admitted for acute malnutrition.
“This trend serves as a serious alarm and it is expected to lead to infants with low birth weights arriving in the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future,” Ingram stated further. “The situation persists. Generations of families, including those being born now into this ceasefire, have been irrevocably transformed by the suffering they endured.”
Humanitarian Shipments Remain Not Enough
Unicef and other UN agencies say that humanitarian shipments entering Gaza have risen from wartime levels, but are nevertheless wholly insufficient in relation to the scale of need.
Typically 140 aid trucks a day have entered during December to date, in deliveries arranged by the UN and the International Organisation for Migration. This number is significantly under the goal of 600 trucks a day established under the ceasefire.
This data leave out bilateral aid donations and trade deliveries, which have risen more dramatically than aid convoys run by the United Nations during the cessation of hostilities. This has lowered market prices for many commodities, but these goods stay out of reach for the vast majority of people in Gaza who have had no income for over 24 months and who have used up all their saved funds.
Logistical Hurdles
Following the truce, aid has been organized by a international coordination center called the Civil-Military Coordination Centre led by the US and Israel and including representatives of other countries backing the truce. Nevertheless, diplomats and aid officials say that the Israeli army continues to have the ultimate authority in what is allowed in to Gaza.
A UN situation report indicated that from eight humanitarian convoys arranged with Israeli authorities on a recent Sunday, merely four received permission to proceed.
