GENEVA – The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its deepest concern today over the catastrophic impact on children of the ongoing hostilities in Gaza, ahead of the upcoming 80th United Nations General Assembly session, and urgently reiterated its calls for decisive action by all States, and in particular by Israel as a de facto occupying force.

The Committee highlighted that the famine has now taken hold in Gaza. Malnutrition among children is accelerating at a catastrophic pace. The Committee echoed the multiple UN agencies’ warning that, without immediate and unhindered humanitarian access, the manmade famine will spread, and more children will die.