More than 9,000 Kids in Gaza Admitted to Hospital for Severe Malnutrition in the Month of October, According to UN Figures.
Although a cessation of hostilities was put in place two months back, malnutrition continues to take a toll among Gaza’s young. Recent United Nations statistics reveal that more than 9,000 children were admitted to hospital with acute malnutrition in October by itself.
While the immediate threat of famine has receded for the bulk of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza following the ceasefire announcement on 10 October, humanitarian groups indicate persistent restrictions on their aid convoys. They say these shipments are far short of the needs of a population debilitated and scarred by two years of war, homelessness, and residing in makeshift dwellings.
“At healthcare centers in Gaza, I saw multiple babies who had a weight below one kilogramme, their little bodies laboring with the effort of staying alive,” remarked Tess Ingram, a official with the UN child protection agency Unicef.
Shockingly High Numbers Remain
According to Unicef figures, 9,300 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition in October. This number is markedly fewer than the high of 14,000 children seen in August, but much more than the child malnutrition rate during the earlier truce in February and March of this year.
“It’s still a shockingly high number,” Ingram noted, speaking to reporters by video from Gaza.
During that same month, about 8,300 pregnant and breastfeeding women were also hospitalised for acute malnutrition.
“This pattern is a grave warning and it is expected to lead to underweight newborns coming into the world in the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future,” Ingram stated further. “The situation persists. Generations of families, including those being born now into this ceasefire, have been permanently changed by the suffering they endured.”
Humanitarian Shipments Continue to Be Inadequate
Aid groups within the UN state that humanitarian shipments entering Gaza have increased compared to the peak of the conflict, but are still completely inadequate compared to the scale of need.
Typically 140 aid trucks a day have been allowed in during the current month of December, in convoys organised by the UN and the International Organisation for Migration. That is significantly under the aim of 600 trucks a day agreed upon in the ceasefire.
Those figures leave out government-to-government assistance and private commercial imports, which have risen more dramatically than shipments organized by the UN under the ceasefire. This has lowered market prices for many commodities, but they remain beyond the reach for the vast majority of people in Gaza who have had no income for more than two years and who have exhausted their financial reserves.
Logistical Hurdles
After the halt in fighting, aid has been facilitated via a multinational hub known as the Civil-Military Coordination Centre headed by the US and Israel and including representatives of other countries backing the truce. Nonetheless, foreign officials and humanitarian workers report that the Israeli army still has the final say in what is allowed in to Gaza.
A UN situation report indicated that from eight humanitarian convoys coordinated with Israeli authorities on a recent Sunday, merely four received permission to proceed.