Now that there is a ceasefire, Gaza faces another war: against hunger.
Experts from the UN and aid agencies told The National that reversing famine in the Strip will require more than food trucks and pledges.
They outlined what must be immediately done to stop famine, already declared by the UN in Gaza due to Israeli restrictions.
A UN study released last week showed that 54,600 children under five in Gaza are “acutely malnourished and face increased risk of death if untreated”. At least 463 people, including 157 children, have died from hunger-related causes since the war began, Gaza's Health Ministry says.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, the largest aid provider in Gaza, has so far been banned from sending its lorries into the strip. It says it has enough supplies to feed its residents for three months.
Speaking to The National from Gaza city, where the UN declared a famine in August, Tess Ingram, communications manager for Unicef Middle East and North Africa, said screening, response, prevention and consistency are central to handling the current situation.
Since the start of the ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, freedom of mobility has improved. Aid organisations no longer require Israeli permission for every mission they carry out, as had largely been the case over the past two years, enabling them to reach areas that have long been inaccessible.
Among the increased aid supplies to the strip as a result of the ceasefire are items vital for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition.
“We need to fight famine by increasing the volume of food and making sure the food meets the nutritional needs of the population,” Ms Ingram said. This includes bringing in items that have been unavailable in Gaza due to Israel's restrictions on aid and commercial goods, like meat and chicken, a variety of fruit and vegetables and dairy.
“We also provide preventive liquid nutrient supplements, a paste with micronutrients for pregnant women and children,” Ms Ingram said.
These can be accessed in screening centres where parents send their children for testing and treatment of malnutrition. Ms Ingram said there is a need to rebuild those centres, especially in places where they had largely been abandoned or destroyed.
“In Gaza city, we had 45 outpatient treatment centres in August, but by the beginning of October that number had gone down to seven.”
With more than 300,000 people moving from southern to northern Gaza in the past few days, according to the UN, there is a need to screen as many people as possible for malnutrition and provide them with treatment, which could mean moving existing centres to areas where people are returning to, she added.
None of this is new to Unicef, which has dealt with famines across the world, as well as the changing conditions in Gaza during the past two years.
In general, the operating conditions are looking better, and while Ms Ingram remains optimistic, she said that dealing with such large-scale malnutrition will take time.
“We are still cautious about the volume of aid that's coming in and we have not seen the big increase sustained yet. We need to see hundreds of lorries coming in consistently to feel confident,” she said.
More lorries carrying aid have entered the strip than Israel had been allowing in recent months, but one of the largest suppliers of assistance, UNRWA, remains banned from bringing in lorries or goods under its name.
“The active deprivation or refusal to allow aid in at all for three months meant that the population who were in already in extremely dire straits were pushed into a famine situation,” said UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler.
He said bringing the aid operation back to the scale required would take time, which is why the work needed to be multiplied, and that one way to do so would be by allowing UNRWA lorries into Gaza.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
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GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
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THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
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The%20specs
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Squads
India: Kohli (c), Rahul, Shaw, Agarwal, Pujara, Rahane, Vihari, Pant (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Shami, Umesh, Siraj, Thakur
West Indies: Holder (c), Ambris, Bishoo, Brathwaite, Chase, Dowrich (wk), Gabriel, Hamilton, Hetmyer, Hope, Lewis, Paul, Powell, Roach, Warrican, Joseph
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
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PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
1 Man City 26 20 3 3 63 17 63
2 Liverpool 25 17 6 2 64 20 57
3 Chelsea 25 14 8 3 49 18 50
4 Man Utd 26 13 7 6 44 34 46
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5 West Ham 26 12 6 8 45 34 42
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6 Arsenal 23 13 3 7 36 26 42
7 Wolves 24 12 4 8 23 18 40
8 Tottenham 23 12 4 8 31 31 39
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The Details
Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Oppenheimer
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
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RESULT
Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2
Arsenal: Aubameyang (13')
Chelsea: Jorginho (83'), Abraham (87')
