UN agencies warn of an 'explosion' of child deaths in Gaza

(Patria) - An alarming lack of food, rising malnutrition, and the increasing spread of disease could trigger an explosion of child deaths in Gaza, the United Nations warned on Monday, AFP reported.

UN agencies warned that food and safe water have become "incredibly scarce" in the Palestinian territory, adding that almost all young children have infectious diseases.

"The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion of preventable child deaths, which would worsen the already unbearable level of child mortality in Gaza," said Ted Chaiban, deputy head of the UN children's agency UNICEF.

At least 90 percent of children under five in Gaza are suffering from one or more infectious diseases, according to a joint assessment by UN agencies for children, food, and health. Seventy percent had diarrhea in the two weeks prior to the assessment, a 23-fold increase compared to 2022.

"Hunger and disease are a deadly combination," said Mike Ryan, director of the World Health Organization's emergencies program.

"Hungry, weakened, and deeply traumatized children are more likely to get sick, and children who are sick, especially with diarrhea, cannot absorb nutrients well," he said.

"It is dangerous and tragic, and it is happening before our eyes."

Since the start of the war, Gaza has been plunged into a nutritional crisis, with limited aid from outside. A UN assessment showed that more than fifteen percent of children under two in northern Gaza were acutely malnourished, while three percent suffered from severe, life-threatening wasting.

"As the data was collected in January, the situation is likely even worse today," UN agencies warned.

In southern Gaza, five percent of children under two were acutely malnourished, according to the assessment. Before the war, only 0.8 percent of children under five in Gaza were considered acutely malnourished, UN agencies noted.

"Such a decline in the nutritional status of the population in three months is unprecedented globally," they said.