Maternal malnutrition in Gaza has 'devastating' impact on babies, UN says

Malnutrition among pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip is having a "devastating domino effect" on thousands of newborns, the United Nations warned Tuesday.

UNICEF, the UN children's agency, flagged an alarming surge in the number of babies born weighing less than 2.5 kilogrammes (5.5 pounds) in the Palestinian territory.

"Malnourished mothers" give birth to underweight or premature babies, who either "die... or survive, only to face malnutrition themselves or potential lifelong medical complications", UNICEF spokeswoman Tess Ingram told a press briefing in Geneva, speaking from central Gaza.

She added that low birth weight infants were about 20 times more likely to die than infants of normal weight.