Medical staff in Gaza are wrapping plastic strips around the arms of small children in a tent in Rafah to measure arm circumference in search of signs of malnutrition, as a hunger crisis strikes the region following months of military campaign. A little girl who is two and a half years old has skin hanging loosely around her arm, which has shrunk in size after her weight dropped from 11 kilograms before the war to just seven kilograms now, according to her mother Hanah Tabash.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported last week that preliminary data from tests conducted in Gaza indicate that five percent of children under five currently suffer from acute malnutrition. Doctor Mohamed Abu Sultan, part of the MedGlobal team working with UNICEF, stated that poor health conditions and food shortages in Gaza are causing widespread malnutrition.
Relief agencies have accused Israel of obstructing the delivery of aid to Gaza, claiming the army prevented distribution outside the southern areas surrounding Rafah. The food crisis is believed to be much worse in northern areas that are harder to access. Israel denied any restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into the densely populated Palestinian territory, attributing any problems to the United Nations’ ability to distribute aid.
Hanah Tabash said her daughter had been underweight even before the war, but as the family fled their home in Khan Younis and displaced to Rafah, where a million people are seeking refuge in harsh conditions, she became increasingly weaker.
Amar Amar, the regional director for Advocacy and Communication at UNICEF’s office for the Middle East and North Africa, based in Jordan, noted that in the coming weeks there would be at least ten thousand children in Gaza at risk due to malnutrition exacerbated by a lack of clean drinking water. He added, “There is also a direct impact on physical growth, cognitive ability, academic performance, and productivity later in life for these children.”
