• Fewer malnourished children reaching treatment centers due to displacement and insecurity, says WHO, amid malnutrition, diseases surge

GENEVA

The UN humanitarian affairs office warned Tuesday that Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza risk turning relief efforts into a "weapon" of war as access remains critically limited.

"It appears to be a deliberate attempt to weaponize the aid, and we have warned against that for a very long time," said Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson, at a UN briefing in Geneva.

"Aid should be provided based on humanitarian need to whomever needs it, targeting those who need it most, first, and not be used in any way as a tactic to move people to any particular place or to convince people to do this, that or the other," Laerke said.

Asked about a memo issued by the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, Israel's military body for civilian coordination, in which it said that all aid must now enter Gaza exclusively through the Kerem Shalom crossing, with around 60 trucks allowed daily, he warned: "Even if trucks are getting through to those officially closed borders, we can't reach them for security reasons, mainly so it can't be picked up."

WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said that nearly 10,000 children with global acute malnutrition have been treated in Gaza this year, including 1,397 with severe acute malnutrition.

However, "we're actually seeing fewer cases of children coming into hospitals for treatment than we expect ... simply, they're not getting to the centers," she said due to evacuation orders and attacks against facilities.

Harris also reported rising cases of acute watery diarrhea and skin diseases, driven by unsafe water, collapsing sanitation, and disrupted health care.