One in three children under 2 in Gaza is experiencing malnutrition: UNRWA

JERUSALEM: One in three children under age 2 in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished as famine is looming amid the Israeli siege imposed on the region, the main UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has warned.

“Children’s malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza,” the UN agency said in a social media post.

More than five months into Israel’s brutal war of genocide on the territory, much of the Gaza Strip is in ruins with most of its 2.3 million population displaced and facing a major humanitarian crisis.

Western countries have called on the Israeli occupation authorities to do more to allow in aid, with the UN saying it faced overwhelming obstacles in bringing in aid to the enclave, including crossing closures, exhausting searches, restrictions on movement and unrest inside Gaza.

Hospitals in Gaza have reported that some children are dying due to malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza, resulting from Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid to the region.

It is expe
cted that the international committee for monitoring food insecurity will soon present a report on the extent of the hunger crisis in Gaza. This comes after it warned last December of the imminent risk of famine extending until May.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA