Although a cessation of hostilities was put in place two months back, malnutrition persists in causing damage among Gaza’s youth. The latest UN figures indicate that over 9,000 children were admitted to hospital with acute malnutrition in just the month of October.
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, the UN and other aid agencies report persistent constraints around their aid convoys. Officials report these shipments fall well below the needs of a population enfeebled and distressed by a prolonged two-year war, homelessness, and existing in makeshift dwellings.
“While visiting Gaza's medical facilities, I encountered several newborns who weighed less than one kilogramme, their small frames struggling with the struggle to survive,” said Tess Ingram, a representative of the UN child protection agency Unicef.
Shockingly High Numbers Remain
Based on Unicef data, 9,300 children were hospitalised with severe acute malnutrition in October. That figure is markedly fewer than the maximum of 14,000 children reported in August, but far greater than the child malnutrition rate observed during the earlier truce in February and March of this year.
“The total is still disturbingly elevated,” Ingram said, briefing journalists by video from Gaza.
During that same month, about 8,300 women who were pregnant or lactating were also hospitalised for acute malnutrition.
“This pattern is a grave warning and it could very well cause underweight newborns coming into the world in the Gaza Strip for months to come,” Ingram stated further. “The situation persists. Multiple family lines, among them infants arriving today into this ceasefire, have been irrevocably transformed by the trauma they experienced.”
Aid Deliveries Remain Inadequate
Aid groups within the UN state that aid deliveries crossing into Gaza have grown since the height of the war, but are nevertheless wholly insufficient compared to the requirements of the population.
On average 140 aid trucks a day have crossed so far in December, in convoys organised by the UN and the International Organisation for Migration. This number is significantly under the aim of 600 trucks a day established under the ceasefire.
These statistics leave out direct country-to-country aid and commercial shipments, which have increased more sharply than shipments organized by the UN under the ceasefire. These have reduced market prices for many commodities, but they are still unattainable for the overwhelming majority of people in Gaza who have had no income for in excess of two years and who have exhausted their financial reserves.
Logistical Hurdles
After the halt in fighting, aid has been facilitated via a international coordination center known as the Civil-Military Coordination Centre led by the US and Israel and with representatives of other countries supporting the ceasefire. However, diplomats and aid officials say that the Israeli army still has the final say in what is allowed in to Gaza.
United Nations officials stated that from eight humanitarian convoys arranged with Israeli authorities on a recent Sunday, just four were allowed through.
