By Abhinandan Adhikari

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on 21st March, 2024 issued a media statement where the UN Committee noted that children in the Gaza Strip are in danger of catastrophic food insecurity and are facing imminent famine. The press statement denotes that to date 27 deaths of children have been reported due to malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza, according to the Gazan Health Ministry. It is estimated that the accurate death toll from starvation is likely to be significantly higher, and is set to rise. One in three children under two years old in the Northern Gaza Strip suffer from acute malnutrition, a sharp increase from 15.6 per cent in January. 

Experts at the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projected that famine is imminent in the northern governorates and is expected to occur anytime between now and May, 2024. The IPC also estimated that half of the population of the Gaza Strip, approximately 1.11 million people, will face catastrophic conditions and the most severe level on the IPC’s Acute Food Insecurity Scale in the four months leading up to mid-July if the conflict escalates, including through a ground offensive in Rafah. Further, the IPC stated that “deliberate actions such as blocking and restricting humanitarian aid appear to be calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinian children, and we refer in this regard to the interim ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 26 January 2024, which found some rights claims by South Africa under the Genocide Convention to be “plausible.” 

Since the ICJ order on 26 January, and as of 19 March, an average of over 108 Palestinians have been killed and another 178 injured every day in Gaza. The looming invasion of Rafah will take the fragile situation to the breaking point, putting the lives of 600,000 children at immediate risk, and will rapidly reach the tipping point of famine, noted the UNHRC. While reiterating its calls for the remaining children held hostage to be released immediately, the UNHRC also called upon all parties, including the General Assembly and the Security Council, for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to protect hundreds of thousands of innocent children’s lives. Additionally, all States were called upon to resume and strengthen funding for UNRWA and open multiple land border crossings to allow for massively increased delivery of aid throughout the area, including to northern Gaza, as well as security assurances and unimpeded passage to ensure that the aid reaches all children, in all areas. Click Here to Read More