Hunger crisis in Gaza is catastrophic' despite ceasefire, WHO chief says

"Supplies entering the besieged enclave are not meeting the nutritional needs of the people living there, aid groups announced Thursday, while the UN's World Food Programme said that supplies into Gaza were still far short of its daily target of 2,000 tonnes because only two crossings into the Palestinian territory are open. The situation still remains catastrophic because what's entering is not enough, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, chief of the World Health Organization said,"

"Seventy percent of newborns are premature or underweight, compared with 20 percent before October 2023, Andrew Saberton, deputy executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said Wednesday. Malnutrition will have generational effects, not on the mother, but on the newborn, likely to result in ever longer lasting care and problems throughout the life of the baby, he added."

Forty-one aid organizations accuse Israel of arbitrarily rejecting aid shipments into famine-struck Gaza. The hunger crisis in Gaza remains catastrophic two weeks after the ceasefire, and supplies entering the enclave are not meeting people's nutritional needs. The World Food Programme's daily target of 2,000 tonnes is unmet because only two crossings are open, with roughly 750 metric tonnes entering daily. At least a quarter of Gaza's population, including 11,500 pregnant women, is starving and malnutrition will have generational impacts. Seventy percent of newborns are now premature or underweight, up from 20 percent before October 2023. A famine was declared in Gaza City and surrounding areas in August.

Read at www.aljazeera.com