The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that nine out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip cannot consume nutrients from sufficient food groups to ensure their healthy growth and development.

UNICEF added in a statement issued today, Thursday: “The war and restrictions imposed on humanitarian aid led to the collapse of the food and health systems, which led to catastrophic consequences for children and their families.”

It pointed out that five sets of data collected between December 2023 and April 2024 found that nine out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to Israeli bombing since last October, suffer from severe food poverty, which means that they are fed on two food groups. Or less per day to survive.

UNICEF noted that this is evidence of the horrific impact of conflict and restrictions on families' ability to meet children's nutritional needs and the rapid rate at which children are at risk of life-threatening malnutrition.

It continued: To meet the minimum level of dietary diversity for healthy development, children must consume foods from at least five of eight food groups determined by the dietary diversity score used by UNICEF and the World Health Organization, which include breastfeeding, eggs, dairy products, meat, poultry and fish, among other groups. .

In a report issued by the Central Bureau of Statistics last April, it stated that the occupation forces kill about 4 children every hour in the Gaza Strip, and about 43,349 children live without their parents or without one of them, and more than 816 thousand children are in need of psychological assistance from the effects of the aggression. .