Although a cessation of hostilities was put in place two months back, malnutrition is still wreaking havoc 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.
Although the imminent danger of starvation has lessened for the bulk of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza following the truce declaration on 10 October, the UN and other aid agencies report continuing limitations regarding their aid convoys. Officials report these shipments fall well below the needs of a population debilitated and scarred by a prolonged two-year war, homelessness, and living in flimsy shelters.
“While visiting Gaza's medical facilities, I encountered a number of infants who weighed less than one kilogramme, their small frames struggling with the fight for life,” said Tess Ingram, a representative of the UN child protection agency Unicef.
Alarmingly Elevated Numbers Continue
According to Unicef figures, 9,300 children were hospitalised with severe acute malnutrition in October. That figure is markedly fewer than the peak of 14,000 children recorded in August, but much more than the child malnutrition rate reported during the prior halt in fighting in February and March of this year.
“It’s still a shockingly high number,” Ingram commented, addressing the media by video from Gaza.
During that same month, about 8,300 expectant and nursing mothers were also hospitalised for acute malnutrition.
“This trend serves as a serious alarm and it is expected to lead to underweight newborns arriving in the Gaza Strip for many months ahead,” Ingram stated further. “This is not over. Generations of families, including those being born now into this ceasefire, have been irrevocably transformed by the trauma they experienced.”
Humanitarian Shipments Are Still Insufficient
Aid groups within the UN state that humanitarian shipments entering Gaza have risen from wartime levels, but are still completely inadequate compared to the scale of need.
Typically 140 aid trucks a day have crossed so far in December, in shipments coordinated by the UN and the International Organisation for Migration. This figure is well below the aim of 600 trucks a day agreed upon in the ceasefire.
This data do not include direct country-to-country aid and commercial shipments, which have risen more dramatically than aid convoys run by the United Nations under the ceasefire. These have reduced the cost of many goods in markets, but they are still unattainable for the vast majority of people in Gaza who have had zero earnings for in excess of two years and who have depleted their savings.
Coordination Challenges
Since the ceasefire, aid has been organized by a global operations hub known as the Civil-Military Coordination Centre run by the US and Israel and including representatives of other countries backing the truce. Nonetheless, representatives and relief staff state that the Israeli army retains veto power in authorizing shipments into Gaza.
A UN situation report indicated that out of eight humanitarian convoys arranged with Israeli authorities on a recent Sunday, merely four received permission to proceed.
