1 in 6 children malnourished in northern Gaza: UN

A growing number of children in Gaza are "acutely malnourished" and isolated in the northern part of the territory as Israel pushes forward with expanding its military operations in the region, according to a study by UNICEF.

The report, published this week by the Global Nutrition Cluster — an aid partnership led by UNICEF — found 1 in 6 children younger than 2 years old in northern Gaza are malnourished, with an estimated 3 percent of this group experiencing a severe form of wasting, or being underweight for their age and height.

The nutrition situation of women and children is worsening across the territory, but especially in northern Gaza, which has been largely devastated by the more than four-month war between Israel and Hamas, the report found.

The nutrition conditions are also notably worsening in the Gaza Strip's southernmost city of Rafah, where over half of the enclave's population have sought shelter amid fighting elsewhere. Israel has pledged to expand its operations into Rafah to ensure the complete defeat of Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.

Rafah is the only place in Gaza where humanitarian aid is consistently entering the enclave, with U.N. humanitarian leaders warning of the dire consequences of expanded military operations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered his military to draft an evacuation plan for civilians ahead of the invasion to address concerns. Some of the evacuations were ordered Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

Hamas launched a surprise assault in southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and kidnapping an estimated 250 others, prompting Israel to embark on a bombardment of Gaza by ground and air. More than 29,000 Palestinians have been found dead or displaced in more than 80 percent of the territory's population, the AP reported.

The report also found 90 percent of children younger than 2 — and pregnant and breastfeeding women — in Gaza eat two or fewer food groups a day, which is known as severe food poverty. The food they can access is also of the "lowest nutritional value," per the report.

At least 90 percent of children younger than 5 are also impacted by one or more infectious diseases and 70 percent have had diarrhea in the past two weeks, with analysts calling it an "unprecedented increase" in disease.

More than 80 percent of households are also without safe and clean water, with the average household having access to less than one liter per person per day, the study found.

Analysts said the nutrition conditions will continue to quickly deteriorate, especially in areas where humanitarian assistance is limited.

“The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza,” Ted Chaiban, UNICEF's deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations, said in a statement.

The Biden administration has been working with negotiators in Qatar and Egypt in recent weeks to broker such a long-term peace plan that would see a pause in fighting, the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu has rejected a two-state solution and said last week such a plan would only be a "huge reward" for Hamas following their initial attack.