Acute famine threat in Gaza - NRK Urix - Foreign news and documentaries

A child is examined in one of the health centers supported by the World Health Organization in the Gaza Strip.

The arm circumference is measured, and the result ends up in red on the measuring tape.

This is one of many Palestinian children suffering from malnutrition.

Every day we see between 10 and 20 cases of acute malnutrition, says Afnan Ahmed, a nutrition expert who works for the United Nations in Gaza.

-Permanent damage

– Children in Gaza are now starving to death, UNICEF Communications Director Marianne Merer Christiansen tells NRK.

It confirms that this disaster is man-made and that it is within the power of humans to put an end to it.

According to UNICEF, 23 Palestinian children have lost their lives in recent weeks due to dehydration and malnutrition.

Merer Christiansen also points out that severe malnutrition leads to permanent damage to the brain and body. Young children are particularly at risk.

– An entire generation could be lost, says a UNICEF spokeswoman.

She also confirms that some children are so weak from hunger that they no longer cry and are unable to eat.

The international community should bow its head in shame

More than 1.1 million people in Gaza now suffer from extreme hunger.

The United Nations mentioned this in a new report. It says the situation is at level five at the international level (IPC). This means severe food shortages and a high risk of death.

Another UN representative confirms that hunger has already caused irreparable damage to children and young people.

Many young people may never fully recover or reach their full potential, says Jamie McGoldrick, UN Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Martin Griffiths, a UN emergency aid official, believes the outside world has allowed things to go too far.

The international community should bow its head in shame because it did not stop this, he says.

Israel rejects these criticisms

European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Gaza was no longer on the verge of collapse famineBut there is still famine.

Hunger is used as a weapon, and Israel provokes famine, he says.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz rejected these criticisms.

– He said that Israel allowed large-scale humanitarian aid to reach Gaza via land, air and sea.

Katz also claims that emergency aid is being sabotaged by Hamas in cooperation with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

According to relief organizations, Israel must open more border crossings to obtain enough food.

very rare

To underscore how dire the situation in Gaza is, the UN states that in the past 13 years, famine has only been declared twice in the world – in Somalia in 2011 and in parts of South Sudan in 2017.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said Palestinians in Gaza now face horrific levels of hunger and suffering.

He asserts that this is the largest number of people threatened by catastrophic hunger ever recorded anywhere by the IPC.

– I urge the Israeli authorities to ensure full and unimpeded humanitarian access to all parts of Gaza, and for the international community to fully support our humanitarian efforts, says Guterres.