UNICEF: Gaza children are dying at an "unprecedented" rate.

Arab Sea Newspaper - Follow-ups

Arab Sea - Palestine - Follow-ups: The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that children in the Gaza Strip are dying at an "unprecedented" rate amid famine and deteriorating conditions as a result of the ongoing Israeli war on the Strip since October 7, 2023. UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban said in a media briefing on his recent trip to the Middle East that Gaza's children are dying at an "unprecedented" rate, and signs of deep suffering and hunger are evident on their faces. Recently, Chaiban visited Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He added: "We are at a crossroads, and the choices made now will determine whether tens of thousands of children will live or die." After his fourth visit to Gaza since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, the UN official said: "You see the pictures in the news, and you know what happened, but it is much harder when you are there, the signs of deep suffering and hunger are evident on the faces of families and children." Chaiban confirmed that "more than 18,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war." He added: "Gaza is now facing an imminent danger of famine, one in three people in Gaza spend days without food, and the malnutrition index has exceeded the famine threshold, as the global acute malnutrition rate now exceeds 16.5 percent." Chaiban continued: "Today, more than 320,000 young children are at risk of acute malnutrition." He stressed that what is happening on the ground in Gaza is "inhumane," and what children of all categories need is a sustainable ceasefire and a political path forward. Chaiban concluded by emphasizing "the need to bring in at least about 500 trucks per day to the sector through all routes, and this includes humanitarian and commercial aid." The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Friday that the victims of the Israeli starvation policy since October 7, 2023, have risen to 162 deaths, including 92 children, after recording 3 deaths in the last 24 hours. On May 27, a new mechanism imposed by Israel, which closes the crossings of the Gaza Strip in cooperation with the United States, began to distribute food aid through the so-called "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" in 4 distribution centers in the south and center of the Strip. Since the beginning of this mechanism, hospitals have received one thousand and 330 Palestinian martyrs and more than 8 thousand and 818 wounded, as a result of the Israeli army repeatedly firing at aid seekers, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with American support, has been committing genocide in Gaza, including killing, starvation, destruction and displacement, ignoring international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice to stop it. The genocide has left about 208,000 Palestinians between martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 9,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced people, and a famine that has claimed the lives of many.