Children In Gaza With Acute Malnutrition Almost 3 Times Increase

JAKARTA - The number of children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza has nearly tripled since the ceasefire earlier this year as aid flows more freely, according to data compiled by humanitarian groups and released by the United Nations on Thursday.

As reported by Reuters on Thursday, June 5, the report was issued at a time when aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave was under intense scrutiny due to a deadly shooting near a new US-backed system operation.

After a two-month ceasefire failed in March, Israel blocked aid supplies to Gaza for 11 weeks.

The aid blockade sparked a hunger warning from global monitors.

Israel, which has just lifted a partial blockade since then, checked all aid to Gaza and accused Hamas of stealing part of it - something the militant group denies.

About 5.8% of nearly 50,000 children under five who were discriminated in the second half of May were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, analysis of the United Nations group and other aid agencies known as nutritional clusters showed.

This was up from 4.7% in early May and nearly three times the figure in February during the 20-month war gap between Israel and Hamas.

But there were no exact figures in February, or said how many children were discrining.

The analysis also reports an increase in cases of severe acute malnutrition among children - a life-threatening condition that weakens the immune system.

It said the centers to support medical complications from severe cases in northern Gaza and Rafah in the south of the enclave had to be closed, leaving children without access to life-saving treatments.

It did not say the reason for the closure, but many medical centers had run out of supplies, damaged in war, or attacked by Israel, which accused Hamas of using it for military purposes.

Meanwhile, Hamas denies using it this way.

A Palestinian minister reported 29 deaths related to hunger among children and parents in just a few days last month.

Separately, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) medical charity said on Thursday doctors in the Gaza Strip donated their own blood to save their patients after large numbers of Palestinians were shot dead trying to get food assistance.