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SvennoJ on 18 March 2024
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More than 13,000 children killed in Gaza, others severely malnourished: UNICEF

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/17/over-13000-children-killed-in-gaza-others-severely-malnourished-unicef

Israel has killed more than 13,000 children in Gaza since October 7 while others are suffering from severe malnutrition and do not “even have the energy to cry”, says the UN’s children’s agency, UNICEF.

“Thousands more have been injured or we can’t even determine where they are. They may be stuck under rubble… We haven’t seen that rate of death among children in almost any other conflict in the world,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told the CBS News network.

UNICEF: Malnutrition among children reaching ‘unprecedented levels’ in the Gaza Strip

Malnutrition among children is spreading fast and reaching devastating and unprecedented levels in the Gaza Strip due to the wide-reaching impacts of the war and ongoing restrictions on aid delivery, the UN’s children’s agency said.

  • North Gaza: 31 percent of children under the age of two (one in every three children) suffer from acute malnutrition, a staggering escalation from 15.6 percent in January.
  • Central Gaza: 28 percent of children have acute malnutrition, more than 10 percent of which have severe wasting.
  • South Gaza: Acute malnourishment of kids has doubled to 10 percent.

70 percent of northern Gaza facing catastrophic hunger: UN food agency

The alarming figure comes as the World Food Programme warns famine is “imminent” in the northern part of the enclave, with it expected to fully set in between now and May. The only way to reverse the trend, warns Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), is to open more land crossings and “flood” the enclave with food.

“We are engaged in a race against the clock,” Lazzarini said at a Cairo news conference.

Desperate Palestinians gather outside UNRWA warehouse in Gaza City



Oxfam: ‘Catastrophic scenario’ as Gaza Strip at risk of famine

Nour Shawaf, a regional policy adviser at Oxfam, has described the situation in the Gaza Strip as catastrophic after the UN-backed report said there is already an imminent famine in northern Gaza and a risk of famine across the entire bombarded and besieged territory.

“This is all man-made,” she told Al Jazeera from Beirut. “This is all a result of the continued bombardment by Israel and displacement of Palestinians across the Strip, and the result of using starvation as a weapon of war.

“As long as we do not see a ceasefire in place that would allow humanitarian operations to scale up to deliver aid into Gaza and northern Gaza specifically, with an exponential type of increase of this type of assistance, then we are going to be seeing a very catastrophic scenario unfolding in front of our eyes as the world watches,” Shawaf said.

She added that Oxfam was looking into seven constraints to humanitarian access that Israel has deliberately put in place to ensure that humanitarian operations are blocked.

A UN-backed report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has found that hunger has reached “catastrophic” levels for 1.1 million people in Gaza, with the most dire conditions in Gaza’s north.

Here are some of the report’s detailed findings:

  • Gaza’s entire population is facing high levels of food insecurity. All households are skipping meals on a daily basis.
  • Northern Gaza is marked as Phase 5 in the IPC’s famine classification scale – the most severe stage. This means famine is expected to fully set in in there between now and May.
  • In the north of Gaza, 70 percent of people already live with “catastrophic hunger”. Two thirds of households report having gone entire days and nights without eating at least 10 times.
  • Gaza’s governorates of Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah are in the second most severe stage of the ICP’s famine classification scale – Phase 4 – with famine likely to reach these areas by July.
  • Famine can still be avoided, but only if there is an immediate cessation of hostilities and sustained supply of aid.


Gaza’s imminent famine a ‘really simple problem to solve’

Melanie Ward, the CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians, says the warnings about imminent famine in Gaza mean nothing if they do not inspire action. “Over the last five months, we’ve consistently issued warnings about how severe things were getting in Gaza,” Ward, whose group provides medical services in the enclave, told Al Jazeera. “Nothing has been done … in fact it’s only gotten worse,” she said.

“What’s worse is that it’s a really simple problem to solve. If Israel would only let food aid in, we could stop the starvation immediately.” The fact that 19 aid trucks recently made it into northern Gaza, Ward said, “shows that it’s possible”.

Responding to recent warnings by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and other leaders about the impending famine, Ward said it’s time to move beyond “warm words” that have so far accomplished nothing. “We saw Borrell and others say ‘starvation is being used as a weapon of war’. My question is: What are they going to do about it? What are they going to do to avert this famine?”

No excuse for Gaza’s man-made famine: IRC

The looming famine in Gaza is a “shocking”, “unprecedented” development that Israeli policies are contributing to, says Sam Duerden, a team lead for the aid group International Rescue Committee’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“Children are starving due to an entirely man-made and preventable crisis,” Duerden said in a statement. “There is no excuse.” To reverse Gaza’s descent into famine, he called for:

  • An immediate ceasefire
  • Israel to end its “arbitrary denial of food, water, fuel, and essential medicine” into the enclave
  • All parties to facilitate the “rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief from all possible land routes”.


UNRWA chief says visit to Gaza rejected by Israeli authorities

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), says he has been denied entry into Gaza by Israeli authorities.

“UNRWA has by far the largest presence among all humanitarian organisations in Gaza. My visit today was supposed to coordinate & improve the humanitarian response,” Lazzarini wrote on X, noting that the Israeli authorities’ move happened on the day that new data on famine in Gaza was released.

“This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity. Too much time was wasted, all land crossings must open now. Famine can be averted with political will.”