A senior UNICEF official has urged for safer and broader humanitarian access to Gaza, where children suffering from malnutrition are dying slowly as the world watches. According to the United Nations’ official website, Adele Khudr, the Regional Director for UNICEF in the Middle East and North Africa, stated in a press release issued on Sunday, “The child deaths we feared are now a reality.”
Reports indicate that at least 10 children have died from dehydration and malnutrition in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north in recent days. Khudr warned that “more children are likely fighting for their lives” in one of the few remaining hospitals, with possibly even more in the north unable to receive any care at all.
Khudr expressed that parents and doctors must feel an unbearable sense of helplessness and despair when they realize life-saving aid remains out of reach, despite being only a few kilometers away. “Worse still are the cries of pain from these children dying slowly under the gaze of the world,” she added, emphasizing that “the lives of thousands of infants and children depend on urgent action now.”
UNICEF fears more child deaths unless the war ends and barriers preventing humanitarian relief are immediately removed. Khudr highlighted that the widespread shortage of food, clean drinking water, and medical services is a direct result of barriers to access and the multiple risks facing UN humanitarian operations.
The situation is affecting children and mothers, hindering their ability to breastfeed. This is particularly true in northern Gaza, where people are suffering from hunger, exhaustion, and trauma, with many clinging to life. “The disparity in conditions in the north and south is clear evidence that restrictions on aid in the north are costing lives,” she stated.
UNICEF and the World Food Programme conducted malnutrition screenings in the north last January, finding that nearly 16% of children aged two or under, or one in six, suffer from acute malnutrition. Similar screenings in the south, where aid was more accessible, showed that five percent of children in this age group suffer from acute malnutrition.
Khudr stated, “Humanitarian agencies like UNICEF must be enabled to overcome the humanitarian crisis, prevent famine, and save children’s lives.” The situation has worsened, with the agency warning last week that a surge in child mortality would be imminent if the escalating nutrition crisis is not addressed.
