Women in Gaza unable to breastfeed babies

Mothers in Gaza have been unable to breastfeed their babies because they are so malnourished as Israel’s war leaves the territory’s residents with little or no food, international NGO ActionAid said in a statement.

“We are running out of words to describe the depth of the horror of what people in Gaza are having to endure. An entire population is going hungry, but pregnant and lactating women and their children are suffering the most.

Israel has cut off the besieged enclave’s access to desperately needed humanitarian aid as it continued to pound the Gaza Strip into rubble. The United Nations last week called out the “impossible situation” Gazans are facing as the Israeli government continues to hamper the delivery of supplies.

The UN’s aid chief Martin Griffiths attributed the lack of assistance being delivered due to several factors, including the ongoing Israeli bombardments, aid convoys coming under fire, layers of intense inspections before an aid truck is allowed entry into the Palestinian territory, a growing list of rejected items, and aid workers themselves being killed and displaced by the war.

Meanwhile, New York-based Human Rights Group has accused that Israel is currently using starvation as a weapon of war to wipe out Palestinians in the territory.

On average, there is 1.5 liters of water available per person in Gaza per day to cover all their needs, from drinking to bathing and cleaning, according to ActionAid.

However, for basic survival, a person needs 15 liters each day. Pregnant and lactating women require an additional 7.5 liters of water a day to keep themselves and their babies healthy, the organization added.

According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, 71 percent of Gaza’s population is now suffering from acute hunger, while 98 percent of people do not have enough to eat. The impact on pregnant women, mothers and their young children has been severe.

According to recent UN data, there are more than 50,000 pregnant and 68,000 lactating women in Gaza in need of immediate lifesaving, preventative, or curative nutrition interventions.

In total, 7,685 children under five are suffering from life-threatening wasting – leaving them vulnerable to developmental delays, disease, and in severe cases death – while more than 4,000 are classed as ‘severely wasting’ and in need of life-saving treatment.