In the coming weeks, “at least 10,000 children under five years will suffer the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, known as severe wasting, and will need therapeutic foods”, according to UNICEF.
“This means for many families in Gaza, the threat of dying from hunger is already real,” UNICEF added.
The UNICEF statement comes after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported Thursday that approximately all of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents are now facing acute hunger. The entire population of the Gaza Strip is classified in a state of crisis, according to IPC.
That’s the highest share of people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country, the report stated.
“Many adults go hungry so children can eat,” according to IPC, calling for humanitarian access to be restored throughout the region to enable the rapid delivery of life-saving aid.
UNICEF also announced it is particularly concerned about the nutrition of more than 155,000 pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, as well as more than 135,000 children under the age of 2, given their specific nutrition needs.
The organization added that “the IPC has emphasized that these conditions do not have to persist. Yesterday’s warning of famine in the coming weeks and months can still be averted. But we must act now”.
Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, resulting in more than 20,000 deaths and over 53,000 injuries, most of them children and women. It has caused immense damage to infrastructure and an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”, according to Palestinian and international organizations.
