WHO warns of permanent impact of hunger on a generation of Gazans

Malnutrition rates are rising in Gaza, emergency treatments to counter it are running out and hunger could have a lasting impact on “an entire generation”, a World Health Organisation official said today according to Reuters.

Israel has blockaded supplies into the enclave since early March, when it resumed its devastating military campaign, and a global hunger monitor warned yesterday that half a million people there faced starvation.

WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Rik Peeperkorn, said he had seen children who looked years younger than their age and visited a north Gaza hospital where over 20 per cent of children screened suffered from acute malnutrition.

“What we see is an increasing trend in generalised acute malnutrition,” Peeperkorn told a press briefing by video link from Deir Al-Balah. “I’ve seen a child that’s five years old, and you would say it was two-and-a-half.”

“Without enough nutritious food, clean water and access to healthcare, an entire generation will be permanently affected,” he said, warning of stunting and impaired cognitive development.

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, told the BBC today that he thought Israel was denying food and aid to civilians as a weapon of war.

Due to the blockade, WHO only has enough stocks to treat 500 children with acute malnutrition, which is only a fraction of what is needed, Peeperkorn said.

Already, 55 children have died of acute malnutrition, he said, citing Gaza Health Ministry figures.

Peeperkorn said he had seen many children in hospitals with illnesses such as gastroenteritis and pneumonia which, due to their reduced immunity linked to hunger, could be fatal.

“You normally don’t die from starvation. You die from the diseases associated to that,” he said.

READ: Gaza’s entire population faces critical risk of famine, global hunger monitor says