Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell says the escalation in child malnutrition in Gaza is “shocking, especially when desperately needed assistance has been at the ready just a few miles away”, Al Jazeera reports.

Despite repeated efforts to deliver aid, Russell says the UN agency is “being hampered by unnecessary restrictions, and those are costing children their lives”.

She stressed that “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire continues to provide the only chance to save children’s lives and end their suffering”.