Fighting, malnutrition and disease threaten 1.1 million children in Gaza

Gaza (Union)

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced that children in Gaza face a “deadly triple threat” represented by increased disease outbreaks, malnutrition, and escalation of hostilities.
UNICEF added in a statement yesterday that thousands of children in Gaza have been killed due to violence, while the living conditions of other children are rapidly deteriorating, with cases of diarrhea and food poverty spreading, increasing the risk of more children dying.
“Children in Gaza are stuck in a nightmare that is getting worse every day,” said Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF.
She added, “Children and their families in the Gaza Strip are being killed and injured in the conflict, and their lives are being exposed to increasing risks due to preventable diseases and scarcity of food and water.”
She stressed the need to protect all children and civilians from violence and provide them with basic services and supplies.
Cases of diarrhea among children under the age of five rose from 48,000 to 71,000 in one week starting December 17, equivalent to 3,200 new cases of diarrhea daily, according to the statement.
UNICEF stated that this significant increase in this short period of time is a strong indicator of the rapid deterioration of children's health in Gaza.
Before the escalation of hostilities, the Gaza Strip was recording about 2,000 cases of diarrhea among children under the age of five per month, and the current rate is approximately 2,000% higher than this rate.
Since the issuance of a report on the food security situation in the Gaza Strip in late December, which warned of the risk of famine in the Strip, UNICEF has found that an increasing number of children are not getting the food they need. About 90% of children under the age of two eat two or fewer food groups, according to a study conducted by UNICEF on the 26th of last month, and this is more than the 80% recorded from the same study two weeks before that date.
The deteriorating situation raises concerns about acute malnutrition and deaths exceeding famine thresholds. UNICEF expressed its concern about the nutrition of more than 155,000 pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers and more than 135,000 children under the age of two, given their special nutritional needs and weaknesses.
Since the beginning of the war, UNICEF has provided vital supplies to the Gaza Strip, including vaccines, medical materials, hygiene supplies, infant formula, nutritional supplements and therapeutic food, to prevent and treat chronic malnutrition.
In a related context, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirmed that relief organizations have been unable to send urgent, much-needed life-saving aid to the northern Gaza Strip for days.
The office added yesterday that the United Nations and partner organizations were unable to send humanitarian aid north of the “Wadi Gaza” waterway for 4 days, due to delayed or prevented access to the areas and the continuation of fighting in the region.
Much-needed relief supplies included medicines to be sent to more than 100,000 people for a month.
The office called for urgent, safe, sustainable and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to the areas north of Wadi Gaza, which has been isolated from the south for more than a month.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) indicated late last month that hunger threatens 40% of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
In a related context, the government media office in the Gaza Strip said yesterday that the infrastructure in the Strip has become beyond repair due to the concentrated Israeli bombing, stressing that the Strip is facing a “real disaster.”
He added, in a statement, that “the Israeli army deliberately and intentionally destroyed the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip with the aim of multiplying the humanitarian catastrophe in all governorates of the Strip, especially in North Gaza Governorate and Gaza Governorate.”
The Gaza government media office confirmed that “the suffering of the residents of the Gaza Strip is ongoing and ongoing, putting approximately 2.4 million people in real danger,” explaining that “the Israeli bombing targeted road networks, electricity, drinking water, desalination and sewage plants, rainwater drainage, telecommunications, and the Internet.”
The office called on the countries and parliaments of the world to take a pressured stance to stop the war.