UNRWA: Around 55,000 Children in Gaza are Malnourished

In the besieged Gaza Strip, the humanitarian situation for children under five has deteriorated into a dramatic emergency. According to UNRWA, nearly 55,000 children are now suffering from malnutrition and among them, approximately 12,800 are severely malnourished, with very limited chances of recovery under current conditions. 

The surge in child malnutrition coincides with Israel’s enforcement of a blockade beginning in March, which has sharply curtailed access to food, water, medicine, fuel, and essential supplies entering Gaza.

During periods of tighter restrictions, UNRWA assessments found that nearly 16 percent of surveyed children were malnourished — translating to over 54,600 under-fives in urgent need of nutrition and medical aid. 

A study published in The Lancet highlights this spike as “unprecedented,” tracing the worsening nutritional conditions to periods of severe aid disruption and blockades. 

The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure exacerbates the crisis: many of the most vulnerable children cannot access the medical support or therapeutic feeding programs that might save their lives. 

Tragically, as the crisis has deepened, lives have been lost. Since October 2023, at least 460 individuals in Gaza are reported to have died from starvation or malnutrition — of whom 154 were children. Many others were killed while attempting to reach relief distribution points.

In Gaza City specifically, where Israel has intensified ground operations, instances of child malnutrition increased sixfold between March and August, underscoring how violence and restricted access to aid magnify the risk to young lives. 

UN, humanitarian, and human rights bodies have repeatedly warned of the dire consequences of the blockade and restricted aid — yet according to a UN commission, those warnings did not elicit meaningful policy changes from Israeli authorities.

The commission went so far as to allege that Israel “knowingly and deliberately inflicted” conditions calculated to bring about the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza. 

Declaring famine in August, the UN warned that the scale of deprivation in Gaza “is unlike anything we have seen in this century.” The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) framework has projected that by September, half a million people in Gaza would be facing “catastrophic” food insecurity, with many children at imminent risk of death from starvation. 

The situation is dire: tens of thousands of preschool children are now suffering from preventable, acute malnutrition and are at heightened risk of mortality and long-term developmental damage. 

This article was previously published on kuwaitmoments. To see the original article, click here