Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
After two years of war and severe food shortages, more than 54,600 children under 5 Gaza Many may be severely undernourished, with more than 12,800 seriously affected, according to a new study by the UN agency.
According to an analysis by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, a primary health care provider, as of early August, about 16% of children aged 6 months to under 5 years in Gaza were suffering from a life-threatening type of malnutrition known as acute wasting, with about 4% suffering from severe wasting. palestinian Refugees in the area.
Wasting requires several weeks of therapeutic diet and sometimes hospitalization.
The study, published Wednesday in The Lancet medical journal, is the most comprehensive study of child hunger in the region to date, the authors said. It relied on screening about 220,000 children from dozens of health centers and medical sites in Gaza between January 2024 and mid-August.
“Thousands of preschool-aged children in the Gaza Strip now suffer from preventable acute malnutrition and face increased risk of mortality,” Dr. Masako Horino, the study’s lead scientist, said in a statement.
In a commentary accompanying the new study, three experts in child health, nutrition and public policy who were not involved in the research called it “some of the most definitive evidence” of the extent of malnutrition.
“It is now well established that Gaza’s children are starving and need urgent and sustained humanitarian assistance,” wrote Jessica Fanzo of Columbia University, Paul Wise of Stanford University, and Zulfikar Bhutta of Aga Khan University in Pakistan and the Hospital for Sick Children in Canada.
food shortage and starvation
Israel Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu Denied reports of starvation during the war that began with a deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, saying these were “lies” propagated by Hamas.
But experts and aid groups have warned for months that Israel’s embargo on food and aid and continued military offensive into Gaza is leading to starvation, especially among children and pregnant women.
Gaza’s health ministry said 461 people, including 157 children, have died from complications of malnutrition since the war began, with the majority expected to die in 2025. hospital According to the ministry, amid a severe shortage of medical foods, there is a glut of malnourished children. The United Nations and many independent experts consider data from the Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, to be the most reliable.
For the study, trained nurses used a calibrated tape to measure the circumference of children’s mid-upper arms, a standard tool for evaluating nutritional stress. Scientists said very thin arms, less than 125 millimeters or 4.9 inches, are related to very thin bodies.
restricted assistance
Malnutrition rates decreased during periods when aid was allowed into Gaza, such as a six-week ceasefire in early 2025. But the study found that children’s conditions worsened when supplies were blocked for weeks or months.
Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war, imposing a total siege that lasted more than two months beginning in March. In May, it began allowing aid. A controversial US-Israeli-backed supply delivery system began in May, which limited aid distribution to four locations around Gaza and required Palestinians to pass through Israeli military lines to receive aid. According to the United Nations, more than 1,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in and around those sites.
US-based non-profit food aid organization Adesia said it was able to send shipments of medical food to Gaza. According to founder Navyaan Salem, the group shipped 1,500 boxes of products on September 28 and plans to ship around 15,000 boxes by air and sea next month.
The study follows an August report by UN-backed food security experts that confirmed famine in parts of Gaza. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the world’s leading authority on food crises, was warning that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were facing catastrophic levels of hunger for months. Experts said famine could not be declared earlier due to lack of data.
Two workers involved in a malnutrition screening program were among the 21 United Nations Relief and Works Agency health workers killed in Gaza. Overall, more than 370 agency staff have been killed in the conflict, the group said.
,
Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb reported from Beirut.
,
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content.