Gaza: 57 children die of malnutrition as a result of blockade

Briefing journalists in Geneva, Rick Peperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said that due to Israel’s total embargo on humanitarian aid, the supplies left in the enclave would be enough to treat no more than 500 children with acute malnutrition, which Dr Peperkorn said was “only a fraction of what is needed.” “People are caught in a vicious cycle of food insecurity, malnutrition and disease,” he warned.

Dr Peperkorn's comments followed the release on Monday of new UN research showing that one in five people in Gaza - roughly half a million people - are facing hunger, while all of the strip's 2.1 million population are facing prolonged food shortages.

"This is one of the worst hunger crises in the world and it is unfolding in real time," Dr Peperkorn said.

A World Health Organization official told reporters of a recent visit to Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, where medics examine more than 300 children every day at a WHO-supported feeding center: “I saw them in the wards... A five-year-old child looks like he is two and a half years old.”

WHO supports 16 outpatient and three inpatient nutrition treatment centres, but the cessation of Israeli aid and humanitarian access threatens the organization's ability to sustain these operations.

Dr Peperkorn pointed to the long-term harm of childhood malnutrition, which “can last a lifetime,” with consequences such as stunted growth, impaired cognitive development and poor health. “Without enough nutritious food, clean water, access to health care, an entire generation will suffer,” he said.

Dr Peperkorn stressed that WHO has been raising the need to resume humanitarian deliveries to Gaza with the Israeli authorities. There are currently more than thirty trucks with WHO aid in Egypt, just a few dozen kilometers from the Rafah border crossing, and additional supplies are stockpiled in the West Bank, ready to be sent “on any day when it is allowed.”

Rick Peperkorn reported that the Israeli military carried out an airstrike on the burns unit of the Nasser Medical Complex in the city of Khan Yunis, killing two people and wounding 12. The hospital lost 18 surgical beds, including eight in the intensive care unit.

The attack killed a Palestinian journalist who was being treated for injuries sustained in an earlier airstrike, according to media reports.

"Healthcare cannot be a target," Dr. Peperkorn concluded, reiterating his call for the protection of medical facilities, an immediate end to the blockade of humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages held by Palestinian armed groups and a ceasefire.