Malnutrition has never been such a deadly threat in Gaza as it is now. Gaza crisis: Young children will continue to die from malnutrition, experts warn Peace and Security
The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners managed to gain access to Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza. Fuel, food and basic necessities were delivered to the clinic.
“The assistance will be distributed to 150 patients and 50 children suffering from acute malnutrition. In addition, a batch of vaccines was delivered to the hospital,” said Dr. Rick Pieperkorn, WHO Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
For the first time since October 7 last year, the WHO mission was able to also visit Kamal Adwan Hospital. The hospital’s pediatric ward, where 10 children have reportedly died of starvation and dehydration in recent days, remains overcrowded with patients, Dr. Pieperkorn said.
Obstacles to aid delivery routes
In January, the majority of WHO missions to northern Gaza – nine out of 16 – were rejected by Israeli authorities, with only three approved and four approved, Dr. Pieperkorn said. difficult.” “In February, the number of missions assisted was zero,” he told reporters at a briefing in Geneva.
Malnutrition, which cripples young children, has never been as deadly a threat in Gaza as it is now, as the enclave was largely self-sufficient through fish and other food production, Dr. Pieperkorn said. Acute malnutrition then affected just 0.8 percent of children under five years of age. 6 percent indicates a serious and rapid deterioration of the situation, said a WHO representative. “Such a sharp decline in the quality of nutrition of the population in just three months is unprecedented on a global scale.”
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“Humanitarian landings”
In recent days, due to the fact that humanitarian aid is arriving very slowly overland in Gaza, so-called humanitarian landings have been carried out in the enclave. The UN has not yet taken part in such missions, but they cannot be ruled out, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday.
“Our first priority is to expand the scale of land transport to match the enormous needs we hear about every day,” said OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke.
Before the latest flare-up in Gaza, about 500 food trucks per day entered the Gaza Strip, while in recent months the daily average was 133.
“Much worse than during the Second World War”
Meanwhile, in Geneva, Balakrishnan Rajagopal presented his report on the situation in Gaza, UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing
He informed the UN Human Rights Council that up to 80 percent of the housing sector has been damaged or destroyed since the start of Israeli bombing in northern Gaza . Catastrophic damage was caused to civilian infrastructure.
“The scale of destruction is much worse than in Aleppo, Mariupol and even Dresden and Rotterdam during World War II,” said the Special Rapporteur