Despite a ceasefire declared two months ago, malnutrition is still wreaking havoc among Gaza’s youngest residents. The latest UN figures indicate that in excess of 9,000 children were hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October alone.
Although the imminent danger of starvation has lessened for the bulk of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza in the wake of the halt in fighting on 10 October, the UN and other aid agencies report continuing constraints around their humanitarian aid shipments. These agencies assert these shipments are far short of the needs of a population debilitated and scarred by 24 months of conflict, homelessness, and existing in flimsy shelters.
“At healthcare centers in Gaza, I saw multiple babies who had a weight below one kilogramme, their little bodies laboring with the effort of staying alive,” remarked Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for the UN child protection agency Unicef.
Disturbingly Large Numbers Persist
According to Unicef figures, 9,300 children were received care for severe acute malnutrition in October. That figure is significantly less than the maximum of 14,000 children reported in August, but substantially higher than the child malnutrition rate observed during the earlier truce in February and March of this year.
“This remains an alarmingly large figure,” Ingram commented, briefing journalists by video from Gaza.
That October, about 8,300 women who were pregnant or lactating were also hospitalised for acute malnutrition.
“This pattern is a grave warning and it will likely result in underweight newborns arriving in the Gaza Strip for months to come,” Ingram stated further. “This is not over. Entire lineages, even those born currently into this ceasefire, have been forever altered by what was inflicted upon them.”
Humanitarian Shipments Continue to Be Inadequate
Unicef and other UN agencies say that aid deliveries crossing into Gaza have grown compared to the peak of the conflict, but are still completely inadequate relative to the scale of need.
An average of 140 aid trucks a day have been allowed in during the current month of December, in convoys organised by the UN and the International Organisation for Migration. That is well below the aim of 600 trucks a day agreed upon in the ceasefire.
This data leave out government-to-government assistance and trade deliveries, which have risen more dramatically than aid convoys run by the United Nations during the cessation of hostilities. They have brought down the cost of many goods in markets, but they remain beyond the reach for the great bulk of people in Gaza who have had zero earnings for in excess of two years and who have depleted their savings.
Coordination Challenges
Following the truce, aid has been facilitated via a global operations hub called the Civil-Military Coordination Centre run by the US and Israel and including representatives of other countries in favor of the cessation of hostilities. Nonetheless, diplomats and aid officials say that the Israeli army retains veto power in what is allowed in to Gaza.
The UN reported that among eight humanitarian convoys arranged with Israeli authorities on a recent Sunday, only four had been facilitated.
