In a grim assessment of the dire situation after more than eight months of war, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the UN World Health Organization (WHO), said on Tuesday:A significant percentage of Gaza’s population currently faces devastating hunger and famine-like conditions.“
The WHO director-general said more than 8,000 adolescents have been diagnosed and treated for acute malnutrition, including 1,600 children who are most at risk.
“Despite reports of increased food distributions, there is currently no evidence that those most in need are receiving sufficient quantity and quality of food,” Tedros argued.
No more nutrition
Life-saving treatment for severely malnourished children in the war-torn Gaza Strip is declining, with only two of three specialised nutrition centres for severely malnourished adolescents in the Gaza Strip remaining open, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
In an update on Tuesday, the UN agency warned that malnourished children are “dying before their families’ eyes”, while the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that escalating hostilities across Gaza continue to severely hinder access to medical care.
Aid success
Despite ongoing operational and safety challenges for aid teams, “humanitarian partners are currently providing health services to around 280,000 people each week in the Gaza Strip,” OCHA said, noting that shortages of cooking gas and a lack of electricity supply are making it difficult to keep community kitchens and bakeries operating.
“Food distribution efforts remain constrained by intensifying fighting, damaged roads, few entry points into the Gaza Strip, limited checkpoints and checkpoint opening hours, and the limited number of trucks allowed to enter,” the UN aid office said. “Other types of vital aid must also reach those in need to end months of near-starvation conditions in the Gaza Strip.”
Tensions in the West Bank not easing
OCHA warned that the situation continues to deteriorate amid ongoing violence against Palestinians by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank.
More than 520 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the Hamas-led terrorist attack on October 7 that sparked the war, nearly a quarter of them children, according to the latest data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“Nearly three-quarters of the deaths occurred during Israeli military operations. Over the same period, more than 5,200 Palestinians were injured in these territories,” OCHA said in an update, which noted that there had been 960 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians since October 7. OCHA noted that such incidents were “on the rise.”
Attacks on healthcare
Echoing these concerns, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the UN health agency has recorded 480 attacks on medical facilities in the West Bank since October 7, resulting in 16 deaths and 95 injuries.
“While the world’s attention is on Gaza, a health crisis is also developing in the West Bank, where attacks on health care and restrictions on people’s movement are hindering access to medical services,” he said.
The WHO director-general said the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank was affecting residents’ access to health services, noting that in most parts of the West Bank clinics were only able to operate two days a week and hospitals were operating at around 70 per cent capacity.
