Nine out of ten children in Gaza are not getting enough nutrients from enough food groups to support their healthy growth and development, according to a UNICEF report released on Thursday.
“In the Gaza Strip, months of hostilities and restrictions on humanitarian aid have collapsed the food and health systems, resulting in catastrophic consequences for children and their families,” stated UNICEF.
Nine out of ten children in the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli bombardment since last October, are said to be suffering from severe food poverty, which is defined as surviving on two or fewer food groups per day, according to five sets of data gathered between December 2023 and April 2024.
“This is evidence of the horrific impact the conflict and restrictions are having on families’ ability to meet children’s food needs – and the speed at which it places children at risk of life-threatening malnutrition,” UNICEF stated.
Israel claims it has no restrictions on humanitarian aid reaching Gaza’s civilian population and has attributed the UN’s sluggish relief efforts to the organization’s ineffective operations.
But even Israel’s most ardent friends are putting more pressure on it to open up the Gaza Strip to food imports as pockets of famine are beginning to appear there and some youngsters are passing away from starvation and dehydration.
Children must eat foods from at least five of the eight food groups identified by a dietary diversity score used by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to fulfill the minimum dietary diversity for healthy development.
These consist of, among other things, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy products.
According to UNICEF, 181 million children under five years old, or 27% of all children worldwide, experience severe child food poverty in their early years.
According to Israeli estimates, Hamas assaulted southern Israel on October 7, murdering some 1,200 people and taking 253 more hostage. This sparked Israel’s ground and air campaign.
Health officials in the Hamas-run enclave of Gaza report that the offensive has killed over 36,500 Palestinians.
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