TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / December 11, 2024
‘The immediate entry of more food supplies in Gaza is crucial to address the deepening hunger crisis’ across the Strip.
The number of children admitted for treatment due to malnutrition in Gaza has increased to 4,000 per month since July, according to the United Nations.
“OCHA reports that severe access challenges continue to prevent partners from being able to screen regularly enough to detect malnutrition cases that require treatment,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a press briefing on Tuesday, citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“So far in the fourth quarter of 2024, they have completed just over 151,000 such screenings – out of 346,000 children under five in Gaza,” he added.
Since July, the number of children admitted for treatment has increased to more than 4,000 per month, according to the OCHA.
Dujarric also highlighted efforts to combat hunger in the besieged enclave saying that “the immediate entry of more food supplies in Gaza is crucial to address the deepening hunger crisis” across the Strip.
Status of bakeries
Dujarric said UN partners report that four bakeries have resumed full capacity in the enclave and bread distributions to shelters and community kitchens — along with cooked meals — have also restarted.
“However, in North Gaza and Rafah governorates, seven bakeries remain shut down due to the ongoing hostilities,” Dujarric noted. “And in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, all eight bakeries are closed, due to flour shortages and safety concerns caused by overcrowding.”
He highlighted that on December 1 in Deir al-Balah, the price of one 25-kilogram bag of flour spiked to the equivalent of at least $280, “and this is obviously due to severe supply shortages.”
In Khan Younis, it cost the equivalent of $245, Dujarric added.
Ongoing genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,758 Palestinians have been killed, and 106,134 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Millions displaced
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
