TEHRAN – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported an alarmingly sharp increase in child malnutrition in Gaza, with rates reaching 13.5% last month.

UNICEF has warned that acute malnutrition rates among children in the Gaza Strip are rising at an alarming pace.

According to UNICEF, the latest data show an unprecedented surge in severe malnutrition among children examined in August.

The percentage of children suffering from acute malnutrition rose to 13.5% last month, up from 8.3% in July.

In Gaza City, where famine was confirmed last month, the percentage of children admitted with malnutrition was even higher, at 19 percent, up from 16 percent in July.

However, in August, fewer children were screened because ten outpatient treatment centers in Gaza City and North Gaza had to close due to the occupying regime’s evacuation orders and increasing Israeli massacres. 

In July, when there were more screening capacity and fewer Israeli massacres in northern Gaza, 13,000 children were identified as severely malnourished.

Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s Executive Director, highlighted that one in every five children in Gaza City was diagnosed with acute malnutrition in August and urgently needed additional lifesaving nutritional support provided by UNICEF.

Russell also noted that although UNICEF is able to bring more supplies into Gaza, military escalation has forced nutrition centers to close, leaving children even more vulnerable.

Save the Children reported that more than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza, an average of at least one Palestinian child per hour, by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) over nearly 23 months of genocide.

Deaths caused by starvation in Gaza have reached approximately 411, including 142 children, according to the statistics from the Gaza Ministry of Health. International humanitarian organisations believe the number could be higher. 

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has issued a dire warning about the catastrophic conditions in Gaza, worsened by the ongoing Israeli occupation regime’s bombardment and blockade for nearly two years.

On Friday, UNRWA alerted to the harsh realities faced by civilians, emphasizing that the situation is deteriorating daily with rising food insecurity and the collapse of essential services.

The agency stressed that civilians have no safe places to turn to amid escalating IOF attacks and the continuing blockade.

UNRWA has called urgently for a ceasefire agreement before it’s too late, warning of a looming humanitarian disaster if the crisis persists.

The UN agency also reaffirmed its concern over the alarming rise in child malnutrition rates in Gaza.

The Israel Occupation Force, IOF, continues to indiscriminately bombard civilian areas across the Gaza Strip, with a sharp increase in airstrikes and artillery attacks targeting Gaza City in the north.

After facing difficulties in invading from the east and southeast, particularly in the Zeitoun neighborhood, the IOF has resorted to leveling large sections of the city.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, unable to comply with evacuation orders due to exhaustion, hunger, and a lack of safe refuge, have borne the brunt of the attacks.

The IOF's large-scale destruction in Gaza City has left more than 50,000 people homeless in less than a week, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal.

Reports on Friday stated that a single IOF airstrike on Gaza City killed 14 members of the same family, spanning three generations.

The IOF killed at least 50 Palestinians on Friday with the number expected to grow. A day earlier, the IOF slaughtered at least 72 Palestinians and injured 356 others.

The death toll from the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in the besieged territory is nearing 65,000, and the number of injured is around 165,000. Investigations citing the IOF’s own data have revealed that the vast majority of the victims are women and children.