News Center- The Gaza Strip has been suffering from the attacks and siege of Israel since October 7, 2023. On Sunday, Adele Khodr, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, released a statement on malnourished babies in Gaza.

“The child deaths we feared are here,” she said, emphasizing that At least 10 children have died from dehydration and malnutrition at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north in recent days. Adele Khodr warned that “there are likely more children fighting for their lives” in one of the few remaining hospitals in the enclave, and perhaps even more in the north who cannot access care at all.

‘Babies slowly perishing under the world’s gaze

She said parents and doctors must feel an unbearable sense of helplessness and despair when they realize that lifesaving aid is being kept out of reach, even though it is just a few kilometers away.

“But worse still are the anguished cries of those babies slowly perishing under the world’s gaze,” she said. “The lives of thousands more babies and children depend on urgent action being taken now.”

Adele Khodr said the widespread lack of nutritious food, safe water and medical services, is a direct consequence of the impediments to access and multiple dangers facing UN humanitarian operations. “The situation is impacting children and mothers, hindering their ability to breastfeed their babies. This is especially the case in northern Gaza, where people are hungry, exhausted, and traumatized, with many clinging to life.”

UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) conducted malnutrition screenings in the north in January.  Teams found that nearly 16 per cent of children aged two and under, one in six, are acutely malnourished. Similar screenings conducted in the south in Rafah, where aid has been more available, showed that five per cent of children in this age group are acutely malnourished.

‘Humanitarian aid agencies like UNICEF must save children’s lives’

“Humanitarian aid agencies like UNICEF must be enabled to reverse the humanitarian crisis, prevent a famine, and save children’s lives,” Adel Khodr said. “For this we need reliable multiple entry points that would allow us to bring aid in from all possible crossings, including to northern Gaza; and security assurances and unimpeded passage to distribute aid, at scale, across Gaza, with no denials, delays and access impediments.”