Symbolic imageIsrael halts commercial goods into Gaza as UNICEF warns malnutrition gains are fragile
Israel has stopped commercial shipments into Gaza for a second day, citing a dispute between merchants and Hamas. UNICEF warned on Friday that progress against malnutrition could unravel.
COGAT, the Israeli military body coordinating Gaza affairs, announced the suspension on Wednesday, 14 October. It said merchants had stopped coordinating shipments because of Hamas taxes and threats. Hamas called the claim baseless, and Nahed Sheheiber, head of Gaza's private truckers union, said Israeli restrictions caused the halt. According to AP, citing COGAT data, private traders bring in perishables such as fruit and meat, which aid agencies largely do not supply.
UNICEF sees fragile progress
UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires told reporters in Geneva that commercial and humanitarian supplies must stay predictable and continuous. A new UNICEF report says acute malnutrition rates have fallen, but only one in three children under two reaches minimum dietary diversity, and one in eight under five has chronic malnutrition.
Winter and hunger figures
UNICEF says about 800,000 displaced children live mostly in tents or unsafe buildings, and Al Jazeera reports a UN warning that nearly one million displaced people face flood risks. The Gaza Health Ministry reports 466 malnutrition deaths since 2024 and projects 1.4 million people, 67 percent of the population, in crisis-level food insecurity or worse through 2026.
Other opinions
The Jerusalem Post leads with Israel's account of a tax dispute, while Al Jazeera foregrounds the Health Ministry's "catastrophic" figures and puts "ceasefire" in quotation marks.