Nearly 55,000 children under five likely to be severely malnourished in Gaza: UN

Due to the two-year war between Israel and Hamas and severe food shortages, more than 54,600 children under the age of five in Gaza are potentially suffering from malnutrition, and more than 12,800 of these children are seriously affected. This has been revealed in a new study by the United Nations. As of early August, about 16 percent of children aged six months to five years in Gaza were suffering from a life-threatening form of malnutrition, according to an analysis by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which provides primary health services to Palestinian refugees.

This life-threatening malnutrition is called extreme wasting. About four percent of these children suffer from severe weakness. Treatment of wasting (wasting) requires a special nutritional diet for several weeks and sometimes hospitalization. According to the authors, the study, published in the journal The Lancet on Wednesday, is the most comprehensive study ever conducted on children suffering from hunger in the region. It was based on screening nearly 220,000 children at dozens of health centers and medical sites in Gaza between January 2024 and mid-August.

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The study said that perhaps more than 54,600 children under the age of five in Gaza are suffering from malnutrition and more than 12,800 of these children are seriously affected. Dr. Masako Horino, the study’s lead scientist, said in a statement that thousands of ‘pre-school’ age children in the Gaza Strip are now suffering from severe, preventable malnutrition. The risk of death has increased in these children. In an article accompanying the new study, three experts in child health, nutrition and public policy described it as some of the most conclusive evidence of malnutrition yet. These experts were not involved in this research.

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Jessica Fanzo of Columbia University, Paul Wise of Stanford University, and Zulfikar Bhutta of Canada’s Hospital for Sick Children and Pakistan’s Aga Khan University wrote, It has now been completely proven that the children of Gaza are victims of starvation and they need immediate and continuous humanitarian assistance. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on October 7, 2023, Israel’s deadly attack by Hamas The reports of starvation during the war that started after 1945 have been rejected. He has said that these reports are lies spread by Hamas, while experts and aid groups have long claimed that children and pregnant women, especially children and pregnant women, are suffering from starvation due to Israel’s restrictions on food and aid supplies and continuous military attacks.

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