The United Nations recorded 11,877 children under five years old as being acutely malnourished in Gaza this July — the highest monthly figure ever recorded, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Of those children, 2,562 suffered from severe acute malnutrition and 40 were hospitalized at stabilization centres, OCHA said.
“This is clear evidence that malnutrition is accelerating rapidly, putting young lives at grave risk,” UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, warned on Thursday.
The organization said the surge in acute malnourishment in children is “staggering.” In February, 2,000 children were identified as such, according to OCHA.
OCHA reported that it and its partner organizations were only able to reach 3% of the children under five who need feeding and micronutrient supplements.
Human rights groups and the UN say that aid convoys being allowed into Gaza are just a fraction of what is needed amid the starvation crisis and rising malnutrition-related deaths in the enclave.
Additionally, only 1.5% of Gaza’s farmland can be accessed and is undamaged as of July 28, a report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN Satellite Center (UNOSAT) found.
The crisis “demands an urgent, scaled-up response,” UNICEF said. “We know how to prevent and treat malnutrition. The tools exist. The expertise exists. But without safe, sustained access, they mean nothing. Nutrition supplies must reach children – before more lives are lost,” UNICEF said.