Since May 1, about 60,000 children under five and 22,820 pregnant and breastfeeding women have received a 15-day supply of nutritional supplements. Gaza: Children are starving due to obstacles to accessing humanitarian aid, UN warns Peace and security
With aid reaching Gaza woefully inadequate, children in the enclave are starving, UN aid workers said Friday. They called on Israel to respect international law and ensure safe humanitarian access to the war-torn sector.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that more than 80 percent of children “have not eaten at least one meal in 24 hours in three days.”
Data about hunger
“We are talking about children under five years of age who are not getting food all day,” said WHO spokeswoman Dr Margaret Harris, stressing that Gaza is not humanitarian aid arrives.
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Food security survey data showed that almost all children surveyed in Gaza consumed only two food groups per day, while WHO recommends at least five.
More than 93,400 children under five have been screened for malnutrition since mid-January, according to information released this week by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Of these, 7,280 were found to be acutely malnourished, including 5,604 with moderate acute malnutrition and 1,676 with severe acute malnutrition.
A preventable disaster
OCHA highlighted the risk of death due to hunger among the most vulnerable people in Gaza.
“I I would say that they are certainly not receiving the volumes of [aid] that they desperately need to prevent mass starvation, to prevent all the kinds of horrors that we are seeing,” said OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke.
Responding to questions about obstacles to access to humanitarian assistance, he emphasized the obligations of the Israeli authorities under international humanitarian law. Aid workers cannot travel through active war zones to reach those in need, he said.
Amid reports of continued bombing across Gaza on Friday, aid groups said land crossings remained the only way to quickly deliver aid on a large scale. “We need more of these land crossings, we need them to be open and we need them to be safe to use to pick up aid when it arrives,” an OCHA spokesman said.
Floating dock
Responding to a question about a floating dock built by the US military off the coast of Gaza, which was reportedly partially destroyed in the open sea, Laerke noted , that this was bad news, but the platform at sea was always considered only as an additional supply channel.
WHO reported that, together with partners and local health authorities, the organization continues to offer services to children suffering from the most life-threatening form of malnutrition. To date, 68 children have received treatment, but due to the recent escalation of hostilities, the feeding center at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza is closed.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and its partners reported that since May 1, nearly 60,000 children under five and 22,820 pregnant and breastfeeding women have received a 15-day supply of nutritional supplements to help prevent wasting.