NEW YORK, (PIC)
The UN children’s organization, UNICEF, reported that more than 50,000 children in Gaza are suffering from acute malnutrition, warning that the humanitarian situation in the region has become “beyond catastrophic.”
Victor Aguayo, UNICEF’s nutrition director, said that this number of children in Gaza is enduring acute malnutrition and requires immediate treatment. This follows earlier warnings from the organization about an imminent explosion in the humanitarian crisis and an increase in child mortality related to malnutrition.
UNICEF indicated that 9 out of 10 children in Gaza lack adequate nutrients to ensure their healthy growth and development. The sharp rise in malnutrition rates among children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers poses serious threats to their lives.
The organization noted that food and clean drinking water are extremely scarce, and infectious diseases are spreading, adversely affecting the nutrition and immunity of women and children, leading to an increase in cases of acute malnutrition.
UNICEF, the World Food Program, and the World Health Organization urgently called for safe and sustainable access to multi-sectoral humanitarian aid throughout Gaza without obstacles. Meanwhile, the Gaza Ministry of Health confirmed that dozens of children have died due to malnutrition in recent months.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, warned that over one million people in Gaza did not receive food rations in southern and central Gaza through humanitarian means during August.
Dujarric added that “despite the challenges we face, the UN and other humanitarian organizations continue to do everything possible to provide life-saving assistance to Palestinians,” following his previous statements that the risks facing humanitarian workers in Gaza have become unbearable.
Warnings from international and UN bodies continue to escalate regarding the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza amid a grim famine scene and the targeting of relief workers in previous incidents, which hinders the entry of aid into the besieged territory that has been under Israeli aggression since October 7, 2023, resulting in tens of thousands of martyrs and injured.
