WHO: Malnutrition 'Particularly Extreme' in North Gaza

A Palestinian child is tended to while receiving treatment, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Al-Awda health centre, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A Palestinian child is tended to while receiving treatment, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Al-Awda health centre, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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WHO: Malnutrition 'Particularly Extreme' in North Gaza

A Palestinian child is tended to while receiving treatment, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Al-Awda health centre, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A Palestinian child is tended to while receiving treatment, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Al-Awda health centre, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that malnutrition in northern Gaza was "particularly extreme."
"The situation is particularly extreme in northern Gaza," said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank.
He said that 1 in 6 children under two years of age were acutely malnourished in northern Gaza.
"This was in January. So, the situation is likely to be greater today," Peeperkorn added.

Gaza health authorities say 15 children have died of malnutrition or dehydration at one hospital in northern Gaza.

Nearly five months into Israel's air and ground assault on the Gaza Strip and resulting mass displacement, acute shortages of food have led to what the United Nations is describing as a nutrition crisis, part of a wider humanitarian catastrophe.



US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
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US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)

The United States is deferring the removal of certain Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden said on Friday, citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

The deferred designation, which lasts 18 months, allows Lebanese citizens to remain in the country with the right to work, according to a memorandum Biden sent to the Department of Homeland Security.

"Humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly deteriorated due to tensions between Hezbollah and Israel," Biden said in the memo.

"While I remain focused on de-escalating the situation and improving humanitarian conditions, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Lebanese nationals who are present in the United States."

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a "support front" with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering Israel's military assault in Gaza.

The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

On the Israeli side, 10 Israeli civilians, a foreign agricultural worker and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Tens of thousands have been evacuated from both sides of the border.