UNICEF: Preventable child deaths in Gaza expected to explode
UNICEF official Ted Chaiban said the Gaza Strip is “poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths.” “This will exacerbate the already unbearable levels of child mortality in Gaza,” Chaiban warned.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned of an increase in child deaths due to the worsening food crisis in the Gaza Strip.
A report by the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC), an aid partnership managed by UNICEF, said that more than 90 percent of children under 5 in Gaza are fed two or fewer food groups a day, known as “severe food poverty”.
A similar proportion are affected by infectious diseases, with 70 percent of children suffering from diarrhea in the past two weeks.
In Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza, where most humanitarian aid enters, the rate of acute malnutrition is 5 percent, while in northern Gaza, which is under bombardment and blockade by the Israeli army, the rate is 15 percent.
According to the report, this rate was below 1 percent in Gaza before the war.
AID FLOW SEVERELY RESTRICTED
“The Gaza Strip is set to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths,” UNICEF official Ted Chaiban said in a statement. This will exacerbate the already unbearable levels of child mortality in Gaza.”
The AP news agency reported in December that all 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza are in a food crisis, with a quarter of the population facing starvation.
The GNC report said the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip was severely restricted.
According to The Guardian, the analysis points to a “dire” nutritional situation for the entire population of Gaza, both in the short and long term. All areas of Gaza are expected to be affected by malnutrition. But there are areas receiving limited or no humanitarian aid.
