GAZA, (PIC)
UNICEF said on Wednesday that nine out of 10 children in Gaza could not eat nutrients from enough food groups to ensure their healthy growth and development.
“In the Gaza Strip, months of hostilities and restrictions on humanitarian aid have collapsed the food and health systems, resulting in catastrophic consequences for children and their families,” UNICEF said in a report.
“Five rounds of data collected between December 2023 and April 2024 have consistently found that 9 out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing severe food poverty, surviving on two or fewer food groups per day. This is evidence of the horrific impact the conflict and restrictions are having on families’ ability to meet children’s food needs – and the speed at which it places children at risk of life-threatening malnutrition,” UNICEF explained.
“Children who consume just two food groups per day, for example rice and some milk, are up to 50 percent more likely to experience severe forms of malnutrition,” UNICEF pointed out.
In a related context, UN agencies warned Wednesday that over one million Palestinians in Gaza could experience the highest level of starvation by the middle of next month if Israeli military attacks and restrictions on aid continue.
The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization said in a joint report that “hunger is worsening because of heavy restrictions on humanitarian access and the collapse of the local food system in the nearly eight-month Israel-Hamas war.”
