The World Health Organisation (WHO) have said 57 children have died from the effects of malnutrition during the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip
A representative of WHO in the Palestinian Territories, Rik Peeperkorn, said in a video call that the UN organisation has not yet verified these figures. However, he noted that the WHO has observed an increase in malnourished children.
In connection with this, he reported many young patients with pneumonia and gastrointestinal diseases.
“You normally don’t die from starvation, you die from diseases associated with it,” he said.
From the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, it was stated that in recent weeks, more than 57 children may have already died due to the food crisis.
Since the beginning of March, the Israeli military has not allowed aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip.
The armed forces accuse the Palestinian extremist organisation Hamas of selling aid supplies at inflated prices to the suffering population and using the proceeds to pay for their fighters and weapons.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned at the beginning of the week of an escalating famine in the coastal strip.
A recent analysis has indicated that the entire population of the Gaza Strip, around 2.1 million people, are affected by acute food insecurity. Of these, 244,000 people are already suffering from famine, the FAO said.
UNICEF is concerned about malnutrition like WHO in Gaza
Nemat Hajeebhoy, UNICEF’s Chief of Nutrition, stated that around 600,000 children across Nigeria are currently suffering from acute malnutrition. Of this number, roughly half are at risk of progressing to severe acute malnutrition—a condition that significantly increases the likelihood of death.
“Children with severe acute malnutrition are nine to eleven times more likely to die,” she said.
