More than 9,000 Kids in Gaza Treated in Hospitals for Acute Malnutrition in the Month of October, UN Reports.
Although a cessation of hostilities was put in place two months back, malnutrition is still wreaking havoc among Gaza’s youngest residents. The latest UN figures indicate that more than 9,000 children were hospitalised for acute malnutrition in just the month of October.
Even though the direct risk of famine has diminished for the majority of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza in the wake of the halt in fighting on 10 October, United Nations and relief organizations state continuing constraints around their aid convoys. They say these shipments fall well below the needs of a population debilitated and scarred by a prolonged two-year war, homelessness, and existing in inadequate housing.
“In Gaza’s hospitals I have met a number of infants who had a weight below one kilogramme, their small frames struggling with the effort of staying alive,” stated Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for the UN child protection agency Unicef.
Alarmingly Elevated Numbers Persist
According to Unicef figures, 9,300 children were hospitalised with severe acute malnutrition in October. This number is markedly fewer than the high of 14,000 children recorded in August, but much more than the child malnutrition rate reported during the prior halt in fighting in February and March of this year.
“It’s still a shockingly high number,” Ingram commented, briefing journalists by video from Gaza.
In October, about 8,300 women who were pregnant or lactating were also treated for acute malnutrition.
“This trend serves as a serious alarm and it could very well cause infants with low birth weights coming into the world in the Gaza Strip for many months ahead,” Ingram stated further. “The crisis is not finished. Entire lineages, among them infants arriving today into this ceasefire, have been permanently changed by the trauma they experienced.”
Humanitarian Shipments Are Still Not Enough
Aid groups within the UN state that humanitarian shipments entering Gaza have grown from wartime levels, but are yet entirely insufficient relative to the requirements of the population.
An average of 140 aid trucks a day have been allowed in during the current month of December, in deliveries arranged by the UN and the International Organisation for Migration. This number is far short of the aim of 600 trucks a day established under the ceasefire.
This data exclude government-to-government assistance and trade deliveries, which have risen more dramatically than shipments organized by the UN since the truce began. They have brought down prices for numerous items, but they remain beyond the reach for the vast majority of people in Gaza who have had no income for in excess of two years and who have used up all their saved funds.
Logistical Hurdles
Following the truce, aid has been facilitated via a multinational hub known as the Civil-Military Coordination Centre headed by the US and Israel and involving representatives of other countries supporting the ceasefire. Nonetheless, diplomats and aid officials say that the Israeli army still has the final say in authorizing shipments into Gaza.
The UN reported that out of eight humanitarian convoys coordinated with Israeli authorities on a recent Sunday, only four had been facilitated.