Malnutrition continues to take a toll among Gaza’s young despite a ceasefire declared two months ago, with more than 9,000 children hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October alone, according to the latest UN figures.

While the immediate threat of famine has receded for most of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza after the ceasefire announcement on 10 October, the UN and other aid agencies report continuing Israeli restrictions on their humanitarian aid shipments, which they say fall well below the needs of a population weakened and traumatised by two years of war, homelessness and living in flimsy shelters.

Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for the UN child protection agency Unicef, said: “In Gaza’s hospitals I have met several newborns who weighed less than one kilogramme, their tiny chests heaving with the effort of staying alive.”

According to Unicef figures, 9,300 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition in October. That is significantly less than the peak of 14,000 children in August, but much more than the child malnutrition rate during the previous ceasefire in February and March of this year.