"An explosion in child mortality is imminent"

"An explosion in child mortality is imminent"

This was stated in the report of the Global Cluster for Nutrition, a partner organization for providing aid from the funds of the UN Children's Agency (UNICEF), the American media reported today.

A similar percentage of children fell ill with infectious diseases, with 70 percent of children suffering from diarrhea in the last two weeks, reports AP.

More than 80 percent of households in Gaza do not have clean water safe to drink, and the average household has only one liter of water available per person per day, according to the report.

In the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, where most humanitarian aid arrives, the acute malnutrition rate is 5 percent, compared to 15 percent in the northern part of this Palestinian enclave, which has been isolated by the Israeli army and largely cut off from humanitarian aid for months.

A report by the Global Nutrition Cluster said that before the war, the malnutrition rate across Gaza was less than 1 percent.

"The Gaza Strip is at risk of a preventable explosion in child mortality, but if it does happen, it would worsen the already intolerable level of child mortality in this Palestinian enclave," warned UNICEF official Ted Chaiban.

A December 2023 United Nations report revealed that Gaza's entire population of around 2.3 million Palestinians is in a food crisis, with as many as a quarter of the population facing starvation.

Israel claims it does not restrict the delivery of humanitarian aid, but humanitarian organizations say that the delivery of aid inside Gaza is severely hampered by Israeli actions to close roads, ongoing fighting and disruption of law and order, as Israeli military strikes have also targeted police forces controlled by Hamas.

Israel previously accused the UN agency for assisting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) that 12 employees of that agency participated in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the US agency recalled, stating that the Israeli authorities did not provide evidence for this.

This prompted several donors to freeze vital funds needed for UNRWA's work, although some workers were dismissed and an independent investigation was launched.