All Gazans are now malnourished, doctor says

All residents of the Gaza Strip suffer from malnutrition to varying degrees, Dr Saeed Salah, head of nutrition at the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society, said yesterday.

Salah stressed, “The situation in the north is catastrophic because 700,000 Palestinians are suffering from a politically created famine.”

He added, in a statement reported by Al Jazeera: “All the residents of the Gaza Strip, especially the residents of the north, suffer from malnutrition to different extents, and they have lost weight in different proportions due to the lack of basic foods.”

Salah pointed out that “the media highlights those who are living their last breath, while this stage should be prevented in the first place.”

“Seventy per cent of the population in the north, about 700,000 people, suffer from mild malnutrition, and 20 per cent suffer from malnutrition, while ten per cent suffer from severe malnutrition, the majority of whom are children,” he added.

Some hospitals, he explained, are receiving up to 150 children who are suffering from malnutrition. While most residents of Gaza are unable to help themselves because there is a lack of food available for them to access as a result of the siege.

The World Food Program warned yesterday that “almost half a million people in Gaza face catastrophic levels of hunger.”

🚨Almost half a million people in #Gaza face catastrophic levels of hunger.

Due to unreliable access & limited stocks, families often don’t receive the full rations & frequency they need.

In June, @WFP reached 1 million people. but that’s not enough.

A ceasefire is needed. pic.twitter.com/992B7pi9Qy

— WFP in the Middle East & North Africa (@WFP_MENA) July 8, 2024

READ: UNRWA: 300,000 students in Gaza have been out of school for 9 months