Amid the fiercest fighting in Gaza, UN aid agencies repeated a warning on Wednesday that child famine remains an imminent threat due to aid restrictions and lack of safe access, UN Geneva reports.
More than seven months after the war began, children are still being born too small, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned. The UN agency said in a post on X:
“Habiba was born in a small tent. She’s two weeks old and weighs less than two kilogrammes.”
It also added that more than 150,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women continue to face dire sanitary conditions and health hazards.
The World Food Programme, a collaborating UN agency, is alerting parents to the serious challenges of keeping their children safe and nourished. To prevent child famine, WFP is distributing fortified date bars, including to the parents of Khaled and Siham, who “on some days … do not eat anything to leave what little they have for their children”.
According to WFP, child famine is developing at a “record pace”. One in three children under the age of two is now acutely malnourished or malnourished in Gaza. The UN and its partners have the means to increase aid to all 2.2 million Gazans.
Meanwhile, aid efforts have continued amid reported gun battles between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in Jabalia in the north and Rafah in the south.
600,000 displaced from Rafah
To date, Rafah has emptied of at least 600,000 people in just the last week, and another 100,000 have been uprooted from the north of the enclave, amid fresh evacuation orders by the Israeli military. UNRWA said in a tweet on Tuesday, with images showing lines of vehicles heading to the coast, some laden with entire families’ belongings:
“Families keep fleeing where they can, including to rubble and sand dunes, in search of safety, but there’s no such thing in Gaza.”
The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported that relief teams continue to try to deliver life-saving aid “wherever and whenever possible”. Meanwhile, the main border crossing at Rafah remains closed and there is “no safe access” at the neighbouring Kerem Shalom crossing, which is “not logistically feasible”.
OCHA reported that the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis will officially reopen in the coming days.
Hospital in Khan Younis will work again
The hospital in the southern part of Khan Younis and formerly one of the largest in Gaza, was damaged during intense Israeli shelling in February. Israeli troops also entered the building after weeks of fighting and siege.
Last week, the hospital resumed kidney dialysis treatment for patients who can no longer get treatment at An Najjar Hospital in Rafah, “which has stopped providing services,” OCHA said in an update.
Aid teams continue to face major obstacles in Gaza and beyond, including an attack by Israeli settlers on Tuesday in the West Bank on aid trucks travelling to the enclave. The UN aid office reported:
“The settlers offloaded and vandalised the vehicles at the Tarqumiya checkpoint and near the Barrier by Beit ‘Awwa.”
Media reported that protesters demanding the release of Israeli hostages blocked lorries from Jordan and stamped on humanitarian aid boxes.
