Since the aid blockade began on March 2, 57 children have died due to the effects of malnutrition, according to the Ministry of Health.
If the situation persists, almost 71,000 children under five years of age will be acute in the next 11 months.
Informative journalists in Geneva, who is a representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, said that Israel’s full seizure has left only enough who supplies 500 children with acute malnutrition, “a fraction of urgent need”
“People are trapped in this cycle where the lack of diversified foods, malnutrition and disease feed on each other,” he warned.
Dr. Peeperkorn’s comments follow the publication on Monday of a new analysis for the UN Food Safety Alert Scale, known as CPI that shows that one in five people in Gaza, 500,000, faces the starvation, while the complete population of the 2.1 million of the strip is subject to prolonged food scarcity. Who is a member of the CPI.
A increasing hunger crisis
“This is one of the worst hunger crises in the world, which develops in real time,” said Dr. Peeperkorn.
The UN Health Agency representative spoke of his recent visit to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza, where more than 300 children are examined in a nutrition center backed by WHO. During the visit, the hospital reported more than 11 percent of cases with global acute malnutrition.
When describing the affected children, he said: “I have seen them [in the] Wards … a five -year -old son, and I thought he was two and a half years old. ”
WHO supports 16 outpatient malnutrition treatment centers and three hospitalized patients in the enclave with supplies to save lives, but the detention of aid by Israel and the reduction of humanitarian access are threatening their ability to maintain these operations.
Dr. Peeperkorn insisted on long -term damage due to malnutrition that “can last a lifetime”, with impacts that include stunted growth, deteriorated cognitive development and health.
“Without enough nutritious foods, clean water, access to medical care, a complete generation will be permanently affected,” he warned.
The WHO official emphasized that the agency was “constantly” raising with the Israeli authorities the need to obtain supplies in the strip. Some 31 years that help trucks are standing in Al-Arish in Egypt only a few dozen kilometers of Rafah’s border crossing with Gaza and more supplies are placed in the West Bank, ready to move “any day in which this is allowed.”
‘Medical care is not an objective’
As for the attacks against medical care, Dr. Peeperkorn said that the burns of the Nasser’s medical complex in the southern city of Khan Younis was hit on Tuesday by an Israeli air attack, killing two and hurting 12. The attack has resulted in the loss of 18 hospital beds in the surgical department, including eight intensive care beds “critical” intensive care.
The media reported that a Palestinian journalist was killed in the attack during treatment for injuries suffered in an anterior air attack.
“Medical care is not a goal,” concluded Dr. Peeperkorn. He reiterated the calls for the protection of health centers, an immediate ending of the aid block, the release of all hostages in the hands of Palestinian armed groups and a high fire “that leads to lasting peace.”
