The New York Times — When health workers screen small children for signs of malnutrition, they often collect a simple measurement with a tape measure.
A typical 2-year-old has an upper arm that measures about six inches (15.2 cm) around. Those six inches are made up of layers of bone, muscle and fat.
When a child age 5 or younger has an upper arm that measures less than 4.5 inches (11.4 cm) in circumference, it’s a sign that the child is experiencing severe malnutrition. When children begin to starve, they start to burn fat reserves to keep functioning. When these reserves run out, their bodies begin breaking down other sources of fuel to stay alive. When a child’s upper arm becomes that thin, the body is consuming its own muscle and bone.
The Gaza Strip, where Israel has imposed restrictions on the entry of aid throughout the war, is experiencing some of the highest levels of malnutrition since the fighting began. A panel of food-security experts backed by the United Nations said that Gaza’s largest city was officially under famine in July, with 16 percent of the children it screened suffering from malnutrition.
Even children who recover will carry the physical consequences for the rest of their lives. That could include stunted growth, soft bones, liver and kidney problems and cognitive issues in the short term, and increased risk of stroke, diabetes and heart disease later on.
Israeli officials have consistently played down the severity of hunger in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called the recent Gaza City famine declaration “an outright lie.”
Posted by External-Noise-4832
5 Comments
Someone’s gotta stop that malnutrition, seems to be really out of control
**Submission Statement**
Gaza’s malnutrition crisis, with 112 kids hospitalized daily (UNICEF) and 57 deaths since March (WHO), is heavily linked to Israel’s 2007 blockade, intensified since October 2023. The blockade restricts food and aid, while military actions have destroyed farms and hospitals, displacing 1.6 million (HRW). As the occupying power, Israel is legally obligated to provide for Gaza’s 2.1 million people but has blocked aid, contributing to the crisis (UN).
600 trucks daily is what the UN estimates Gaza needs. Israel lets about 5% of that enter daily. That says it all.
War sucks.
A bit weird though how we see photos where there’s a person (normally a kid) who appears to be severely malnourished but everyone else looks just fine. We do remember how people on photos from real concentration camps back in 1940s looked like: literally each and everyone on the photo would look like a walking skeleton, but then there’s these this weird pattern where “malnutrition” seems to hit only *that* one person on the photo specifically.
It couldn’t be the case that there’s a substantial evidence confirmed by independent investigations and media reports that HAMAS has been exploiting photos of people with pre-existing genetic conditions to falsely portray starvation in Gaza as a result of Israeli actions… could it?
I mean, if they starve so much… [can’t a nearby restaurant share them a lobster or something](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfM_7uwsyWo)?