Over 50,000 Palestinian children require treatment for acute malnutrition, says UN agency

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reported on Saturday that over 50,000 children in the Gaza Strip are in urgent need of treatment for acute malnutrition.

In a statement, the agency said that "with continued restrictions to humanitarian access, people in Gaza continue to face desperate levels of hunger."

"Over 50,000 children require treatment for acute malnutrition," it added.

"UNRWA teams work tirelessly to reach families with aid but the situation is catastrophic," the agency said.

Nearly 37,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli forces since October last year, most of them women and children, and almost 85,200 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.