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Children in a destroyed building in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip (February 3)

Photo: Haitham Imad / EPA

The situation for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip is desperate around twenty weeks after the start of the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas. And the youngest residents in particular are suffering from the consequences of the conflicts. Several UN organizations have expressed grave concern about the situation of children in the Gaza Strip.

The lack of food, increasing malnutrition and the rapid spread of disease could lead to a massive increase in deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN children's fund Unicef ​​and the World Food Program (WFP) said on Monday.

"The Gaza Strip is on the verge of an explosion in preventable child deaths that would worsen the already intolerable levels of child mortality in the Gaza Strip," said UNICEF representative Ted Chaiban.

Food and clean water have become “incredibly scarce” in the Gaza Strip, the UN organizations said. At least 90 percent of children under five suffered from one or more infectious diseases. “Hunger and disease are a deadly combination,” explained WHO emergency coordinator Mike Ryan. "Hungry, weak and deeply traumatized children are more likely to get sick, and sick children, especially those with diarrhea, cannot absorb nutrients well," he said. "This is dangerous and tragic and is happening before our eyes."

Studies in the north of the region have shown that 15.6 percent of children there - or one in six children under the age of two - are acutely malnourished. "Of these, almost 3 percent suffer from severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition," the WHO said.

On October 7th, fighters from Hamas, which the EU and the USA classify as a terrorist organization, entered Israel and committed atrocities there, mainly against civilians. According to Israeli information, around 1,160 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip.

In response to the Hamas attack, Israel has stated that its goal is to destroy Hamas. According to Hamas figures that cannot be independently verified, more than 29,000 people were killed in the massive military operation in the Gaza Strip.

USA introduces new draft ceasefire

So far there is no negotiated solution in sight - although diplomatic efforts continue. The United States recently introduced a new draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that aims to "establish a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as quickly as possible."

The draft states that “under the current circumstances, a major ground offensive in Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement, possibly to neighboring countries. Such a ground offensive should therefore not be carried out under the current circumstances," says the paper, which is available to the Reuters news agency. It is still unclear when and whether the draft resolution will be voted on.

The US introduced the text after Algeria asked the 15-member council to vote on its draft on Tuesday, which calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel itself claims comprehensive military control over all Palestinian territories even in the event of an agreement with the Palestinians on a two-state solution. "In any case, with or without a permanent solution: Israel will maintain complete security control over all areas west of the Jordan," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message on Monday evening. This “of course” includes the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

jok/AFP