Despite a ceasefire declared two months ago, malnutrition is still wreaking havoc among Gaza’s youth. Recent United Nations statistics reveal that over 9,000 children were hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October alone.
Even though the direct risk of famine has diminished for the majority of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza after the halt in fighting on 10 October, humanitarian groups indicate ongoing limitations regarding their aid convoys. Officials report these shipments fall well below the needs of a population enfeebled and distressed by two years of war, homelessness, and existing in inadequate housing.
“In Gaza’s hospitals I have met a number of infants who were under one kilogramme, their small frames struggling with the fight for life,” stated Tess Ingram, a official with the UN child protection agency Unicef.
Shockingly High Numbers Continue
According to Unicef figures, 9,300 children were received care for severe acute malnutrition in October. This number is markedly fewer than the maximum of 14,000 children seen in August, but substantially higher than the child malnutrition rate reported during the prior halt in fighting in February and March of this year.
“This remains an alarmingly large figure,” Ingram said, briefing journalists by video from Gaza.
In October, about 8,300 pregnant and breastfeeding women were also hospitalised for acute malnutrition.
“This development is a stark caution and it could very well cause underweight newborns being born in the Gaza Strip for months to come,” Ingram continued. “The crisis is not finished. Generations of families, including those being born now into this ceasefire, have been permanently changed by what was inflicted upon them.”
Relief Convoys Are Still Inadequate
Aid groups within the UN state that relief convoys reaching Gaza have risen since the height of the war, but are yet entirely insufficient relative to the requirements of the population.
An average of 140 aid trucks a day have entered during December to date, in deliveries arranged by the UN and the International Organisation for Migration. This figure is significantly under the aim of 600 trucks a day established under the ceasefire.
This data do not include government-to-government assistance and private commercial imports, which have increased more sharply than aid convoys run by the United Nations during the cessation of hostilities. These have reduced market prices for many commodities, but they remain beyond the reach for the overwhelming majority of people in Gaza who have had zero earnings for in excess of two years and who have used up all their saved funds.
Logistical Hurdles
Following the truce, 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, representatives and relief staff state that the Israeli army retains veto power in authorizing shipments into Gaza.
The UN reported that among eight humanitarian convoys planned with Israeli authorities on a recent Sunday, merely four received permission to proceed.
