Malnutrition deaths in children up 54pc since April: UNICEF

Malnutrition-related deaths in children are up 54% since April, according to UNICEF citing Palestinian Health Ministry data.

A separate UNRWA research found that one in every five Gaza children are malnourished and the cases are rising every day.

“Severe malnutrition is spreading among children faster than aid can reach them, and the world is watching it happen,” Edouard Beigbeder of UNICEF said in a statement.

More than 100 people have died from malnutrition during Israel’s war in Gaza – 80% of them children, according to UNICEF, and at least four children have died from starvation in the past 48 hours.

“These deaths are unconscionable – and could have been prevented,” UNICEF added.

Starving Gazans resemble “walking corpses” as malnutrition cases continue to climb in the enclave, the head of UNRWA, the main United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, warned Thursday on a separate note.

UNRWA teams in Gaza are seeing children who are “emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying if they don’t get the treatment they urgently need,” he said.

Last month, 6,500 children were admitted for treatment for malnutrition, the highest number since the conflict began, according to the agency. Already 5,000 children have been admitted in just the first two weeks of this month.