UN warns about 'increased risk' of malnutrition in Gaza

A UN official warned, Wednesday, about the “increased risk” of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip due to the conflict that has raged since 7 October, Anadolu Agency reports.

“Four months since the escalation of hostilities, OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) is warning that in Gaza, severe food shortages, a breakdown in health services and inadequate facilities for water, sanitation and hygiene are putting children under the “age of 5, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, at increased risk of malnutrition,” spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters.

Dujarric said last week that UN humanitarian partners distributed supplementary nutrition assistance to nearly 42,000 children under 5, as well as almost 4,000 pregnant and lactating women.

“A new screening by our humanitarian partners indicates a sharp rise in acute malnutrition, with a 12-fold increase compared to the rate recorded before the hostilities,” he said.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip since 7 October,  killing at least 27,708 Palestinians and injuring 67,174 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

The Israeli offensive has left 85 per cent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

WATCH: Israelis block humanitarian trucks bound for Gaza