ガザ地区ガザちく 診療所しんりょうしょ “一刻いっこくも早はやい停戦ていせんを” 深刻しんこくな食料しょくりょう不足ふそく訴うったえ

In the Gaza Strip of Palestine, where attacks by the Israeli military continue, more than 100 children have died so far due to malnutrition and other causes resulting from severe food shortages.

Amidst this situation, a parent of a child who was examined at a local clinic told NHK that they are urgently calling for an immediate ceasefire.

The health authorities in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, announced on the 16th that 251 people, including 108 children, have died due to malnutrition and other causes.

Amidst this situation, on the 14th, NHKs Gaza bureau covered a clinic operated by UNRWA the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in central Deir al-Balah.

Parents with emaciated children visited the clinic one after another, and doctors and nurses measured the childrens arm circumference and performed other checks to see if they were suffering from malnutrition.

Children who received medical examinations were given special meals to improve their nutritional status, but due to continued restrictions on food deliveries by Israel, there is also a shortage of supplies necessary for such treatment.

According to UNRWA, the percentage of children under the age of five suffering from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip was in the 5% range in March of this year, but by the end of last month, it had surged to 13%.

The mother who brought her child said, The food situation is very bad, and nothing has reached us who are living as evacuees in tents.

I hope that a ceasefire will be achieved and that the children will get better, they appealed.

Akihiro Kiyota, Director of Health at UNRWA, stated in an online interview with NHK, Unless a ceasefire is achieved, there will not be a structure in which large amounts of supplies can enter, appealing that a ceasefire must be realized as soon as possible in order to improve the humanitarian situation.