WHO says 1,600 children facing severe acute malnutrition
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) says a significant proportion of people in Gaza are now facing “catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions”.
“Despite reports of increased delivery of food, there is currently no evidence that those who need it most are receiving sufficient quantity and quality of food,” said Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Tedros said there were more than 8,000 children under five years old who had been diagnosed and treated for acute malnutrition, including 1,600 children with severe acute malnutrition.
“However, due to insecurity and lack of access, only two stabilisation centres for severely malnourished patients can operate,” he added. “Our inability to provide health services safely, combined with the lack of clean water and sanitation, significantly increases the risk of malnourished children.”
More than 60% of Gaza residents report losing family members in war: Poll
A poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research has also found that nearly 80 percent of Gaza residents polled say that at least one of their family members has been killed or injured in the current Israeli war.
Nevertheless, two-thirds of the public support the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and nearly 80 percent believe it has placed the Palestinian issue at the centre of global attention, according to the polling data.
The survey explains, “It is important to note that support for this attack, as we will see later, does not necessarily mean support for Hamas and does not mean support for any killings or atrocities committed against civilians.
Support comes from another motive: findings suggest that more than 80 percent of Palestinians believe that the attack has put the Palestinian issue at the center of attention and eliminated years of neglect at the regional and international levels.”
The survey includes respondents from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but does not include residents of the northern Gaza Strip who remained in their homes since the beginning of the war due to the inability of researchers to reach them and the lack of reliable data on their numbers and whereabouts.
Findings indicate that two-thirds of the public expect Hamas to win the war on Gaza, but this percentage drops to only about half in the Gaza Strip. Also, only half of Gaza Palestinians expect Hamas to return to controlling the Strip after the war.
Demand for Palestinian Authority President Abbas’s resignation is increasing, the findings suggested, as well as a rise in the popularity of Hamas and Marwan Barghouti. The survey also indicates a significant drop in the Gaza Strip in support for the two-state solution, while support for armed struggle rises and support for dissolving the PA stands at more than 60 percent.
Slovenia announces 2.5 million euros towards victims of war in Gaza
One million euros ($1.08m) will be allocated for the Palestinian people through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said in a statement.
Meanwhile, another million euros will be allocated to the UN’s World Food Programme, and the remaining 0.5 million euros ($0.54m) will be assigned “to health and psychosocial rehabilitation projects” for victims of the war in Gaza.
The ministry said it has so far given 4.3 million euros ($4.6m) in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians since the war began on October 7.
