Nutrition conditions are worsening due to access constraints, shortages in essential supplies, limited availability of fresh produce and meat, poor water and sanitation services and spreading diseases.
The United Nations has reported a more than 300 percent increase in malnutrition levels among children in northern Gaza as the humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave deepens.
“Our partners are now reporting a surge in malnutrition levels …They noted a (more than] 300 percent increase in July — when more than 650 cases of acute malnutrition were diagnosed — compared to May, when 145 such cases were detected,” UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said at a press briefing on Monday.
He explained the nutrition conditions are worsening due to access constraints, shortages in essential supplies, limited availability of fresh produce and meat, poor water and sanitation services, and spreading diseases.
“For example, acute supply shortages meant that just 8 percent of the nearly 50,000 children whom our partners had been aiming to reach in northern Gaza were able to receive those supplies last month,” the spokesman said.
Entire Gaza Population Suffers Severe Food Insecurity – UN Report
Citing the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Haq said Israel’s bombardment of the enclave continues to “kill, injure and displace Palestinians – as well as damage and destroy the homes and infrastructure they rely on.”
“In just the past 48 hours, three schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza City were reportedly hit, resulting in dozens of casualties,” he said.
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday Israel allows aid into the Gaza Strip “even though” the deaths of two million Palestinians in the blockaded enclave from hunger might be “justified and moral.”
“We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned,” Smotrich reportedly told a conference hosted by the Israel Hayom daily.
Killing Two Million Gazans is ‘Justified and Moral’ – Smotrich on Israel’s Starvation Policy
Evacuation Order
Haq drew attention to the new evacuation order for Palestinians living in areas of southern Khan Yunis and northern Rafah to immediately move westwards to Al Mawasi.
“Our partners tracking population movements in Gaza estimate that more than 11,000 people had been living in these areas affected by this evacuation order,” he stressed.
The UN called for all parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, including by taking constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects.
This includes “allowing civilians to leave for safer areas and allowing their return as soon as circumstances allow. People must be able to receive humanitarian assistance, whether they move or stay,” he said.
He also mentioned that a new analysis by the UN Satellite Centre found that, as of a month ago, 63% of the structures in Gaza had been damaged.
Over 39,000 Killed
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Tel Aviv is currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 39,653 Palestinians have been killed, and 91,535 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
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The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
