GENEVA – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) warned that one in ten children examined in its clinics in Gaza is now suffering from malnutrition, as the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate under the Zionist entity’s months-long blockade.
Speaking via video link from Amman, UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma told reporters in Geneva that the agency has screened over 240,000 children under the age of five since January 2024. “Our health teams confirm the high rates of malnutrition in Gaza, especially since the tightening of the blockade more than four months ago on March 2,” she said, noting that malnutrition cases were almost nonexistent in the Strip prior to the war.
Touma highlighted how dire the situation has become, quoting a nurse who said he had only seen malnutrition in books and documentaries before the current crisis. She added that medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene materials, and fuel are all being rapidly depleted.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also reported this week that more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza last month alone, including over 1,000 with severe acute malnutrition—the fourth consecutive monthly increase.
Medical sources in Gaza reported that at least 67 children have died from malnutrition so far, while over 650,000 children under the age of five are at immediate risk of severe malnutrition in the coming weeks, out of a total of 1.1 million children in the territory.
