UN: 8.7% of Gazan children screened in July suffered from acute malnutrition

Nurit Yohanan is The Times of Israel's Palestinian and Arab world correspondent

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that, out of 136,000 children aged six months to five years who were screened in July by aid organizations in the Gaza Strip, 11,877 were identified as suffering from acute malnutrition (8.7%), the highest monthly figure recorded to date.

In the first two weeks of July, 56,000 children were screened, with 5,000 found to be suffering from acute malnutrition — nearly 9%, compared to 6% in a survey conducted in June and 2.4% in a survey carried out in February during the second ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

It should be noted that the UN does not specify which organizations conduct the screenings, and the number of children assessed varies from month to month. The diagnosis is made by measuring mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC).

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