WHO warns of permanent impact of hunger on Gaza

Malnutrition rates are rising in Gaza, emergency treatments to counter it are running out and hunger could have a lasting impact on “an entire generation”, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said on Tuesday.

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Israel has blockaded supplies into the enclave since early March, when it resumed its devastating military campaign against Hamas, and a global hunger monitor on Monday warned that half a million people there faced starvation.

WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Rik Peeperkorn said he had seen children who looked years younger than their age and visited a north Gaza hospital where over 20% of children screened suffered from acute malnutrition.

"What we see is an increasing trend in generalised acute malnutrition," Peeperkorn told a press briefing by video link from Deir Al Balah.

"I've seen a child that's five years old, and you would say it was two-and-a-half."

"Without enough nutritious food, clean water and access to healthcare, an entire generation will be permanently affected," he said, warning of stunting and impaired cognitive development.

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency Philippe Lazzarini told the BBC on Tuesday that he thought Israel was denying food and aid to civilians as a weapon of war.