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The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday that after almost three months of war in Gaza, malnutrition and disease are creating a deadly cycle that threatens over 1.1 million children.<\/p>\n
A total of 90% of the 1.1 million young people in the region are not fully supplied with nutrients, according to a UNICEF survey conducted on December 26.<\/p>\n
“Children in the Gaza Strip face a deadly triple threat to their lives, as cases of diseases rise, nutrition plummets and the escalation in hostilities approaches its fourteenth week,” UNICEF said.<\/p>\n
Israel has been waging war against the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip for almost three months now.<\/p>\n
The number of Palestinians killed has risen to 22,600, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. The war was triggered by the October 7 massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other groups in Israel. Around 1,200 people were killed.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren in Gaza are caught in a nightmare that worsens with every passing day,\u201d said Catherine Russell, UNICEF\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n
The report said that cases of diarrhoea in children under 5 years of age rose from 48,000 to 71,000 in just one week starting December 17, equivalent to 3,200 new cases of diarrhoea per day.<\/p>\n
It added that displaced children and their families are unable to maintain the necessary hygiene levels needed to prevent disease, given the alarming lack of safe water and sanitation.<\/p>\n
The report affirmed that prolonged diarrhoea put children at high risk of death.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe futures of thousands more children in Gaza hang in the balance. The world cannot stand by and watch. The violence and the suffering of children must stop,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n