Over 9,000 Children in Gaza Hospitalised for Acute Malnutrition in the Month of October, According to UN Figures.
Although a cessation of hostilities was put in place two months back, malnutrition persists in causing damage among Gaza’s youngest residents. The latest UN figures indicate that over 9,000 children were treated for acute malnutrition in October alone.
While the immediate threat of famine has receded for the bulk of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza in the wake of the truce declaration on 10 October, United Nations and relief organizations state ongoing constraints around their relief deliveries. Officials report these shipments do not meet the needs of a population debilitated and scarred by a prolonged two-year war, homelessness, and existing in flimsy shelters.
“In Gaza’s hospitals I have met multiple babies who weighed less than one kilogramme, their tiny chests heaving with the fight for life,” said Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for the UN child protection agency Unicef.
Disturbingly Large Numbers Persist
As per Unicef statistics, 9,300 children were hospitalised with severe acute malnutrition in October. That figure is considerably lower than the high of 14,000 children recorded in August, but much more than the child malnutrition rate observed during the previous ceasefire in February and March of this year.
“It’s still a shockingly high number,” Ingram commented, speaking to reporters by video from Gaza.
In October, about 8,300 women who were pregnant or lactating were also hospitalised for acute malnutrition.
“This pattern is a grave warning and it could very well cause infants with low birth weights being born in the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future,” Ingram stated further. “This is not over. Multiple family lines, even those born currently into this ceasefire, have been irrevocably transformed by the trauma they experienced.”
Relief Convoys Are Still Insufficient
Unicef and other UN agencies say that humanitarian shipments entering Gaza have grown since the height of the war, but are yet entirely insufficient compared to the scale of need.
An average of 140 aid trucks a day have crossed so far in December, in convoys organised by the UN and the International Organisation for Migration. This number is significantly under the aim of 600 trucks a day agreed upon in the ceasefire.
Those figures leave out bilateral aid donations and commercial shipments, which have increased more sharply than aid convoys run by the United Nations during the cessation of hostilities. They have brought down prices for numerous items, but they are still unattainable for the overwhelming majority of people in Gaza who have had zero earnings for over 24 months and who have depleted their savings.
Operational Difficulties
Since the ceasefire, aid has been coordinated through a multinational hub referred to as the Civil-Military Coordination Centre headed by the US and Israel and involving representatives of other countries backing the truce. However, diplomats and aid officials say that the Israeli army retains veto power in determining what enters Gaza.
A UN situation report indicated that among eight humanitarian convoys coordinated with Israeli authorities on a recent Sunday, only four had been facilitated.
