50,000 Children In Gaza Need Immediately Treatment Due To Nutrition Shortage

Children in Gaza Need Treatment due to Giza's shortcomings. (UNRWA)

JAKARTA - UNRWA said people in Gaza face severe hunger rates due to restrictions on Israel's humanitarian aid.

The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said more than 50,000 children in the Gaza Strip needed immediate medical treatment due to acute malnutrition.

In a statement on Saturday, the agency noted that with continued restrictions on humanitarian access, people in Gaza continue to face a very severe level of hunger. The UNRWA team worked tirelessly to reach families with help, but the situation was very bad.

UNICEF spokesman James Elder also described how difficult it is not only to distribute aid to Gaza, but also to distribute it throughout the coastal areas hit by war.

More aid workers have been killed in this war than any war since the emergence of the United Nations, he told Al Jazeera.

On Wednesday, UNICEF had a mission to drive a truck full of nutritional and medical supplies for 10,000 children, said Elder. Their job is to deliver aid, which has been approved previously by Israeli authorities, from Deir el-Balah to Gaza City, a round trip of 40 km (25 miles).

"It took 13 hours and we spent eight hours around the checkpoint, arguing about the documents (It's related to the tru or van)," he said as quoted by Aljazeera, Sunday, June 16.

The fact is that this truck was not given access. The 10,000 children did not get the assistance... Israel has a legal responsibility to facilitate the assistance.

One of the main land crossings in Rafah has been closed since Israeli forces seized the territory early last month. The move raises fears of starvation in southern and central Gaza.

Wakil Direktur Eksekutif Program Pangan Dunia PBB, Carl Skau, menghabiskan waktu dua hari untuk menilai persukaan warga Palestina minggu ini, dan mengatakan bahwa tantangan tersebut pernah saya lihat sebelumnya.

Situation in southern Gaza is rapidly deteriorating. One million people in southern Gaza are trapped without clean water or sanitation in a very dense area along the coast in the midst of hot summer. We passed the river of waste, "said Skau.