GAZA, (PIC)
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday warned that under the current circumstances, malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza would “skyrocket.”
“We are seeing those deaths that we long feared,” spokesman James Elder told a UN press briefing in Geneva. “We are seeing deaths from those (malnutrition) and we will see those continue to skyrocket.”
Recalling UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Adele Khodr’s statement about the malnutrition in the northern Gaza Strip and in the south, in Rafah, Elder said the situation has “only gotten worse,” and warned: “We’ll see an explosion in child deaths and call that imminent if the burgeoning nutrition crisis isn’t resolved.”
Regarding the critical urgency of getting aid into the Gaza Strip, he said: “The malnutrition rates of (children) under- five in the north are three times higher than those in Rafah.”
“So, there is some evidence that when that trickle of aid can come in, it does make a life-saving difference,” he added.
In a recent statement, the Gaza media office said the number of children dying of hunger in the north of the Gaza Strip and Gaza City, where humanitarian aid could not be delivered due to Israeli obstacles, increased to 15, and that 700,000 Palestinians were facing the threat of severe hunger.
