Islamonweb

New York (UNI/QNA) - The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stated that “the child deaths that we feared would happen” have become a reality, as malnutrition is sweeping the Gaza Strip, noting that at least ten children have died due to dehydration and malnutrition in Kamal Hospital. Aggression in the northern Gaza Strip in recent days.

Adele Khader, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a press statement: The feeling of helplessness and despair among parents and doctors when they realize that life-saving aid - which is only a few kilometers away - is out of reach, must be unbearable.

What is worse, she added, are the cries of pain of these children who are “slowly dying under the eyes of the world,” stressing that the lives of thousands of children and infants depend on the urgent measures that are being taken now.

She noted that there are likely to be more children fighting for their lives somewhere in one of the few remaining hospitals in Gaza, “and there are likely to be more children in the north unable to access care at all.”

She pointed out that the significant shortage of nutritious food, clean water and medical services is a direct result of the obstacles preventing the arrival of aid and the multiple risks facing UN humanitarian operations, which affects children and hinders the ability of mothers to breastfeed their children, especially in the northern Gaza Strip.

She said: The mothers and their children there are “hungry, exhausted and suffering from shock.” Many are clinging to life.” The regional director explained that the disparity in conditions between the north and the south is clear evidence that the restrictions imposed on aid in the north are claiming lives.

She stated that malnutrition examinations conducted by UNICEF and the World Food Program in the north last January found that about 16 percent, 1 in 6 children under the age of two, suffer from acute malnutrition. Similar examinations conducted in southern Rafah, where aid is more available, found that 5 percent of children under the age of two were suffering from acute malnutrition.

She called for the need to enable humanitarian relief agencies, such as UNICEF, to overcome the humanitarian crisis, prevent famine and save the lives of children. This is why we need multiple reliable entry points to allow us to bring in aid from all possible crossings, including into northern Gaza; Security guarantees and unhindered passage to distribute aid widely throughout Gaza, without preventing, delaying or obstructing access.”

UNICEF also warned that the death toll in Gaza would rise dramatically if a humanitarian crisis emerged and was left to fester. Khader said: The situation has only gotten worse, and renewed the warning of “an imminent explosion in child deaths if the worsening nutrition crisis is not resolved.”

She concluded by saying: “Now, the child deaths that we feared have become a reality, and are likely to increase rapidly unless the war ends and obstacles to humanitarian relief are resolved immediately.”