More than 9,000 Youngsters in Gaza Treated in Hospitals for Acute Malnutrition in October, UN Reports.
Even with a truce that was announced two months prior, malnutrition continues to take a toll among Gaza’s youth. Recent United Nations statistics reveal that in excess of 9,000 children were hospitalised for acute malnutrition in just the month of October.
While the immediate threat of famine has receded for most of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza in the wake of the ceasefire announcement on 10 October, humanitarian groups indicate continuing restrictions on their aid convoys. They say these shipments do not meet the needs of a population debilitated and scarred by two years of war, homelessness, and living in flimsy shelters.
“At healthcare centers in Gaza, I saw several newborns who weighed less than one kilogramme, their small frames struggling with the fight for life,” said Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for the UN child protection agency Unicef.
Shockingly High Numbers Continue
Based on Unicef data, 9,300 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition in October. That figure is considerably lower than the maximum of 14,000 children reported 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.
During that same month, about 8,300 expectant and nursing mothers were also treated for acute malnutrition.
“This pattern is a grave warning and it could very well cause low birthweight babies arriving in the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future,” Ingram added. “The crisis is not finished. Generations of families, even those born currently into this ceasefire, have been irrevocably transformed by what was inflicted upon them.”
Humanitarian Shipments Remain Insufficient
Aid groups within the UN state that relief convoys reaching Gaza have grown from wartime levels, but are still completely inadequate in relation to the scale of need.
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 figure is significantly under the target of 600 trucks a day set as part of the ceasefire.
This data exclude bilateral aid donations and commercial shipments, which have risen more dramatically than aid convoys run by the United Nations since the truce began. These have reduced prices for numerous items, but they remain beyond the reach for the overwhelming majority of people in Gaza who have had no income for more than two years and who have depleted their savings.
Logistical Hurdles
After the halt in fighting, aid has been coordinated through a international coordination center referred to as the Civil-Military Coordination Centre headed by the US and Israel and including representatives of other countries backing the truce. Nevertheless, diplomats and aid officials say that the Israeli army still has the final say in authorizing shipments into Gaza.
The UN reported that from eight humanitarian convoys arranged with Israeli authorities on a recent Sunday, merely four received permission to proceed.