ISTANBUL

Nearly 9,300 children under 5 in Gaza were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition in October, UNICEF warned on Saturday.

“High levels of malnutrition continue to endanger the lives and wellbeing of children in the Gaza Strip, compounded by the onset of winter weather accelerating the spread of disease and increasing the risk of death among the most vulnerable children,” the UN agency said in a statement on its website.

According to UNICEF, nutrition screenings carried out by the agency and its partners last month “identified almost 9,300 children under 5 years of age with acute malnutrition in October.”

The agency said large quantities of winter supplies remain stuck at Gaza’s borders and called for the safe, rapid and unobstructed delivery of humanitarian aid into the territory.

“As winter weather sets in, thousands of displaced families remain in makeshift shelters without warm clothes, blankets or protection from the elements, while heavy rains have washed waste and sewage through floodwaters and into populated areas,” it added.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said that “despite progress, thousands of children under the age of five remain acutely malnourished in Gaza, while many more lack proper shelter, sanitation and protection against winter,” the statement noted.

“Too many children in Gaza are still facing hunger, illness and exposure to cold temperatures, conditions that are putting their lives at risk. Every minute counts to protect these children,” she said.

Russell also called for the opening of all crossings into the Gaza Strip, with simplified and expedited clearance procedures and the clear prioritization of the entry of humanitarian supplies, allowing humanitarian relief to move through all feasible supply routes, including via Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank.

The warning came despite the ceasefire, which took effect in October, as Gaza faces growing humanitarian pressures. The government media office said Wednesday that a recent winter storm damaged about 22,000 tents sheltering displaced families and left more than 288,000 households without protection from cold and rain.

Authorities in Gaza estimate that the territory needs roughly 300,000 tents and prefabricated housing units to meet the most basic shelter requirements for Palestinians, after Israel destroyed civilian infrastructure during two years of war.

Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed nearly 70,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and injured more than 170,900 people in the over two-year war that has left much of the enclave in ruins.