NGO: Malnutrition in Gaza is reaching historic levels

Follow our liveblog on the conflict in the Middle East.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) Doctors Without Borders warned this Friday that acute malnutrition in Gaza has reached “historic levels” in two of its local centers, stressing that a large proportion of those affected are children or pregnant and breastfeeding women .

According to the NGO, in a statement released this Friday, teams at the Al-Mauasi clinic (in the south of the Palestinian enclave) and in Gaza City (north) observed the highest number of cases of malnutrition “ever recorded” in the region.

At the Gaza City clinic, the number of patients in this situation “increased exponentially in less than two months”, rising from 293 cases in May to 983 in early July.

The organization highlighted that a large proportion of the patients treated in its clinics are children, specifying that one in three is between 6 months and 2 years old.

In addition, more than 700 pregnant and lactating women and nearly 500 children with severe and moderate malnutrition are currently hospitalized in these two outpatient therapeutic nutrition centers, the organization added.

“ This is the first time we have seen such a severe scale of malnutrition cases in Gaza ,” said Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Deputy Medical Coordinator in the Gaza Strip, Mohamed Abu Mughaisib.

"The famine in Gaza is intentional. It could end tomorrow if Israeli authorities allow large-scale food supplies," he stressed.

For MSF, malnutrition in Gaza is the result of “deliberate and calculated decisions” by Israeli authorities, including limiting food intake “to the minimum necessary for survival” and the “militarization of distribution channels.”

Israeli authorities do this while “destroying most of the local food production capacity,” the organization accused.

In this regard, Joanne Perry, an MSF doctor, explained that "many babies are born prematurely due to widespread malnutrition among pregnant women and the precariousness of water and sanitation services."

“Our neonatal intensive care unit [at Al-Helu Hospital] is extremely overcrowded, with up to four or five babies sharing a single incubator,” he reported.

The doctor admitted that, despite this being her third time in Gaza, she had never seen anything like it.

"Mothers ask me for food for their children. Six-month pregnant women usually weigh a maximum of 40 kilos. The situation is extremely critical ," he warned.

The medical organization noted that even before the start of the Israeli offensive in October 2023, Gaza was heavily dependent on the entry of goods and supplies, with an average of 500 trucks per day entering the Gaza Strip.

However, since March 2 of this year, when Israel tightened its blockade, the number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip has fallen dramatically, leading to shortages and a sharp rise in prices.

Even basic products are out of reach for most of the population, with a kilo of sugar selling for around $76 (around 65 euros), while a kilo of potatoes or flour costs almost $30 (around 26 euros), according to data from the World Food Programme (WFP).

This has led many families to reduce their food intake to a single meal a day, without access to bread, fresh vegetables, or sufficient protein, and many parents skip meals to feed their children.

“I'm a mother and I can't blame them, because I would do the same,” said Nur Nijim, MSF nursing team supervisor.

"But I feel powerless as a healthcare professional. People are hungry and ask us for therapeutic foods, but we don't have enough and can only prescribe them to people diagnosed with malnutrition," he admitted.

Faced with this scenario, MSF again this Friday called for unrestricted humanitarian access, a continuous flow of food and medical aid to Gaza.

The organization also called for protection for the civilian population, stressing that malnourished patients "are just the visible part of a much larger crisis," as medical teams witness patients and their caregivers losing weight rapidly, contracting long-term infections, and suffering from visible fatigue.

The ongoing war in Gaza was triggered by attacks led by the Palestinian extremist group Hamas on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel, which caused around 1,200 deaths and more than two hundred hostages.

Israel's retaliation has already resulted in more than 58,000 deaths, the destruction of almost all of Gaza's infrastructure, and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.