Thousands of children have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition in Gaza since an October ceasefire that was supposed to enable a major increase in humanitarian aid, the United Nations children’s agency said on Tuesday.
Unicef, the biggest provider of malnutrition treatment in Gaza, said 9,300 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition in October, when the first phase of an agreement to end the two-year Israel-Hamas war came into effect.
While this is down from a peak of more than 14,000 in August, the number is still significantly higher than during a brief February-March ceasefire and indicates that aid flows remain insufficient, Unicef spokesperson Tess Ingram told a Geneva press briefing by video link from Gaza.
“The number of children admitted is five times higher than in February, so we need to see the numbers come down further,” she said.
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Ingram described meeting underweight babies weighing less than 1kg born in hospitals “their tiny chests heaving with the effort of staying alive.”
In August, a UN backed hunger monitor determined that famine conditions were affecting about half a million people – or a quarter of Gaza’s population.
Unicef is able to import considerably more aid into the enclave than it was before the October 10th agreement but obstacles remain, she said, citing delays and denials of cargoes at crossings, route closures and ongoing security challenges.
Israel said it is set to reopen the Allenby Crossing with Jordan to the passage of goods and aid on Wednesday, an Israeli security official said on Tuesday.
The border crossing has been closed to aid and goods since September, when a driver bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza opened fire and killed two Israeli military personnel before being killed by security forces.
The “yellow line” that divides Gaza under US president Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan is a “new border” for Israel, the country’s military chief told soldiers deployed in the territory.
The chief of the general staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel would hold on to its current military positions. These give Israel control of more than half of Gaza, including most agricultural land and the border crossing with Egypt.
“The ‘yellow line’ is a new border line, serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” lieut gen Zamir said during a visit to meet Israeli reservists in northern Gaza.
“We have operational control over extensive parts of the Gaza Strip and we will remain on those defence lines,” he said, according to an English-language transcript of his remarks provided by a military spokesperson.
Palestinians were forced out of this eastern portion of Gaza by Israeli attacks and evacuation orders. Almost all the surviving population, more than two million people, are now crowded into a narrow zone of coastal sand dunes that is smaller than Washington DC.
The lieut gen’s commitment to keep troops in Gaza appears to contradict the ceasefire agreement signed in October, which specifies that “Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza”. – Agencies
