GENEVA: The UN children’s charity UNICEF called on Friday for all crossings for food aid into war-shattered Gaza to be opened, saying children in the territory were especially vulnerable because they have gone without proper food for long periods.
“The situation is critical. We risk seeing a massive spike in child death, not only neonatal, but also infants, given their immune systems are more compromised than ever before,” said UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires.
Children’s immunity is low because “they haven’t been eating properly and recently at all for way too long,” he said.
Israeli troops began pulling back from some parts of the Palestinian territory on Friday under a ceasefire deal with Hamas, in the first phase of an initiative by US President Donald Trump to end the two-year-old war.
The UN plans to ramp up humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, where some areas are experiencing famine, in the first 60 days of a ceasefire in the enclave, a top UN official said on Thursday.
