UNICEF WARNS GAZA CHILDREN COULD SLIDE BACK INTO DEEPER MALNUTRITION AS COMMERCIAL SUPPLIES STOP AND 800,000 REMAIN DISPLACED
UNICEF is warning that recent improvements in child nutrition in Gaza could quickly be reversed following interruptions to commercial goods entering the territory. A new assessment found that only one in three children under two is receiving the minimum recommended diversity of foods, while one in eight children under five is chronically malnourished. Approximately 800,000 children remain displaced, many of them living in tents or damaged buildings. Israel says the commercial interruption followed a dispute involving fees and cash-payment conditions imposed by Hamas on local merchants, while Hamas disputes that account. UNICEF says both humanitarian and commercial supplies must remain consistent to prevent conditions from deteriorating again.