Canadian Physician Warns of Dire Malnutrition Crisis in Gaza
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Dr. Yipeng Ge, a Canadian physician who recently provided medical care in Gaza, has highlighted the dire malnutrition crisis facing children in the territory.
According to Ge, every individual in Gaza grapples with the interconnected crises of food, water, and housing insecurity.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, he recounted encountering a severely malnourished child, describing him as the sickest he had ever seen.
Ge expressed concern that the child might not survive given his critical condition.
He underscored the consequences of inadequate water, food, and overcrowded living conditions, including outbreaks of respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses, as well as a significant Hepatitis A outbreak.
Ge emphasized the urgent need for nutritious food and clean water to address these health challenges effectively.
He lamented that the lack of basic necessities hindered efforts to prevent and treat preventable diseases effectively.
A senior UN aid official warned that at least 576,000 people across the Gaza Strip - one quarter of the population - faced catastrophic levels of food insecurity and one in six children under the age of two in the north were suffering from acute malnutrition.
And the regional director of the UN's children's agency, UNICEF, said "The child deaths we feared are here, as malnutrition ravages the Gaza Strip".
"These tragic and horrific deaths are man-made, predictable and entirely preventable," Adele Khodr said in a statement on Sunday.
At least 30,534 Palestinians have been killed and 71,920 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.
