News - Middle East: The United Nations warns that all children under the age of five in the famine-hit Gaza Strip are at risk of life-threatening malnourishment.

Amid increasing reports of starvation-related deaths in Gaza, the United Nations World Food Program said on Monday that some 320,000 children in this age bracket have been affected by the collapse of nutrition services and are suffering from lack of access to safe water, breast milk substitutes and therapeutic feeding.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, pediatrician Seema Jilani said malnutrition “affects their entire body”, putting children at risk of multi-organ failure.

She added that starvation in Gaza is traumatic for children, emphasizing that “developmental milestones will be missed.”

The UN warning comes as the Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement that famine and malnutrition killed six more Palestinians in the past 24 hours, including one child.

The total number of people who died from hunger-related causes since the start of the war reaches 181, including 94 children.

The ministry also sounded the alarm over a “serious escalation” in cases of acute soft paralysis among children as a result of “infections and acute malnutrition”.

It said it has so far recorded three deaths from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare condition that causes sudden numbness and muscle weakness in most of the body.

Israel has rejected calls from the UN, aid agencies, and world leaders to allow more aid trucks into the besieged region to alleviate the crisis. 

More Palestinians die every single day due to forced starvation and malnutrition.

The Gaza Media Office said in a statement on Sunday that thousands of humanitarian aid trucks are currently parked at the besieged Palestinian territory's crossing gates.

“We confirm that there are more than 22,000 humanitarian aid trucks currently parked at the Gaza Strip crossing gates, most of which belong to the UN and international organizations and various entities," it added.

Source: Press TV