Adele Khodr, regional director for the U.N.’s children’s aid organization, said that numerous reported child deaths in Gaza are “man-made, predictable and entirely preventable.”

The Biden administration has increased pressure on the Israeli government in recent days over humanitarian aid, launching an airdrop campaign in Gaza to deliver aid and stepping up statements critical of the Israeli government.

Khodr said the situation is most dire in northern Gaza, where fighting has gone on the longest and aid is less accessible. She said that about 16 percent of children showed signs of malnutrition in a study in January.

“Now, the child deaths we feared are here and are likely to rapidly increase unless the war ends and obstacles to humanitarian relief are immediately resolved,” she added.