Since the aid blockade began on 2 March, 57 children have reportedly died from the effects of malnutrition, according to the Ministry of Health.

If the situation persists, nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished over the next 11 months.

Briefing journalists in Geneva, WHO’s representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Dr. Rik Peeperkorn said that that Israel’s complete aid embargo has left only enough WHO supplies to treat 500 children with acute malnutrition – “a fraction of the urgent need”. 

“People are trapped in this cycle where a lack of diversified food, malnutrition and disease fuel each other,” he warned.

Dr. Peeperkorn’s comments follow the publication on Monday of a new analysis by the UN-backed food security alert scale known as the IPC showing that one in five people in Gaza – 500,000 – faces starvation, while the entire 2.1 million population of the Strip is subjected to prolonged food shortages. WHO is a member of the IPC.

An escalating hunger crisis

“This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” Dr. Peeperkorn said.

The UN health agency representative spoke of his recent visit to Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza, where each day more than 300 children are screened at a WHO-supported nutrition centre. During the visit, the hospital reported more than 11 per cent of cases with global acute malnutrition.

Describing the affected children, he said, “I’ve seen them [in the] wards… A child of five years old, and I thought he’s two and a half.”

WHO supports 16 outpatient and three inpatient malnutrition treatment centres in the enclave with lifesaving supplies, but the stopping of aid by Israel and shrinking humanitarian access are threatening its ability to sustain these operations.

Dr. Peeperkorn insisted on the long-term damage from malnutrition which “can last a lifetime,” with impacts including stunted growth, impaired cognitive development and health.

“Without enough nutritious food, clean water, access to health care, an entire generation will be permanently affected,” he warned.

The WHO official stressed that the agency was “constantly” raising with Israeli authorities the need to get supplies into the Strip. Some 31 WHO aid trucks are at a standstill in Al-Arish in Egypt just a few dozen kilometres away from the Rafah border crossing with Gaza and more supplies are positioned in the West Bank, ready to move “any day when this is allowed.”

‘Healthcare is not a target’

Turning to attacks on healthcare, Dr. Peeperkorn said that the burn unit of Nasser Medical Complex in the southern town of Khan Younis was reportedly hit by an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday, killing two and injuring 12. The attack has resulted in the loss of 18 hospital beds in the surgical department including eight “critical” intensive care beds.

Media reported that a Palestinian journalist was killed in the attack during treatment for injuries sustained in a previous airstrike.

“Healthcare is not a target,” Dr. Peeperkorn concluded. He reiterated calls for the protection of health facilities, an immediate end to the aid blockade, the release of all hostages held by Palestinian armed groups and for a ceasefire “which leads to lasting peace.”