More than 9,000 Kids in Gaza Admitted to Hospital for Severe Malnutrition in October, According to UN Figures.
Even with a truce that was announced two months prior, malnutrition continues to take a toll among Gaza’s youngest residents. Updated data from the UN shows that over 9,000 children were admitted to hospital with acute malnutrition in just the month of October.
Although the imminent danger of starvation has lessened for the bulk of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza after the truce declaration on 10 October, the UN and other aid agencies report persistent limitations regarding their aid convoys. They say these shipments do not meet the needs of a population weakened and traumatised by 24 months of conflict, homelessness, and existing in flimsy shelters.
“In Gaza’s hospitals I have met several newborns who were under one kilogramme, their small frames struggling with the effort of staying alive,” said Tess Ingram, a official with the UN child protection agency Unicef.
Alarmingly Elevated Numbers Persist
As per Unicef statistics, 9,300 children were received care for severe acute malnutrition in October. That figure is significantly less than the high of 14,000 children reported in August, but far greater than the child malnutrition rate during the prior halt in fighting in February and March of this year.
“The total is still disturbingly elevated,” Ingram said, speaking to reporters by video from Gaza.
During that same month, about 8,300 women who were pregnant or lactating were also admitted for acute malnutrition.
“This pattern is a grave warning and it is expected to lead to underweight newborns being born in the Gaza Strip for many months ahead,” Ingram added. “The crisis is not finished. Entire lineages, even those born currently into this ceasefire, have been permanently changed by the trauma they experienced.”
Aid Deliveries Remain Inadequate
Aid groups within the UN state that humanitarian shipments entering Gaza have risen since the height of the war, but are yet entirely insufficient relative to the scale of need.
Typically 140 aid trucks a day have been allowed in during the current month of December, in deliveries arranged by the UN and the International Organisation for Migration. That is significantly under the goal of 600 trucks a day established under the ceasefire.
These statistics do not include bilateral aid donations and private commercial imports, which have increased more sharply than aid convoys run by the United Nations since the truce began. These have reduced 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 used up all their saved funds.
Logistical Hurdles
Since the ceasefire, aid has been coordinated through a multinational hub called the Civil-Military Coordination Centre led by the US and Israel and including representatives of other countries supporting the ceasefire. However, diplomats and aid officials say that the Israeli army continues to have the ultimate authority in what is allowed in to Gaza.
United Nations officials stated that out of eight humanitarian convoys planned with Israeli authorities on a recent Sunday, merely four received permission to proceed.
