After two years of devastating conflict, children and their families in Gaza continue to face immense hardship. Even with the recent ceasefire, food and essential supplies remain desperately low. Every day, parents and carers are doing everything they can to keep their children safe, but severe malnutrition remains a deadly threat as it continues to spread rapidly across the Gaza Strip.
In August, famine was confirmed in Gaza City and the surrounding areas. Famine is the most severe form of malnutrition crisis with only two confirmed famines globally. Despite the ceasefire, the situation is still beyond dire, with more than half a million people across Gaza having faced famine.
"Starvation is when the body starts to eat its own fat and then its muscles. The child will grow cold and stop crying. And that’s your fear. When a child stops crying, that’s when starvation is occurring."
As of mid-September, every child under five – more than 320,000 children – is at risk of acute malnutrition, with thousands already suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form of malnutrition. Tragically, over 317 people, including 119 children, have reportedly died from malnutrition between October 2023 and August 2025 – deaths that could have been prevented.
Nutrition in the Gaza Strip
Even in the face of these unimaginable challenges, families are doing all they can to ensure their children are accessing nutrition and healthcare support available to help them survive.
To understand what is happening, let’s take a closer look at what causes malnutrition in conflict zones, how it is threatening the lives of children, and how we can prevent children from dying.
Is there famine in Gaza?
When we think about famine, we often think of climate disasters, such as prolonged droughts. Although a factor, climate shocks are usually not the leading cause of famine; conflict is, which is what we saw in the Gaza Strip when famine was confirmed in August 2025.
Famine is not only about an extreme lack of food; it is also a lack of clean water, sanitation and health care, which is a massive challenge in conflict situations like Gaza. In this man-made humanitarian crisis, the children in Gaza who have survived unimaginable war atrocities faced the threat of famine.
How has the conflict caused food insecurity in Gaza?
A culmination of factors has caused food insecurity in Gaza, including prolonged conflict, the blockade of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, and the destruction of critical infrastructure, such as water systems and healthcare. Even with the ceasefire in effect, humanitarian conditions remain dire, with food insecurity a daily reality for countless families struggling to survive.
Access to lifesaving assistance – food, water, medical care – should never be used as leverage, denied as punishment, or manipulated for strategic gain. Humanitarian aid must remain impartial, free from political or military agendas, and never be weaponised in times of war and conflict.
What causes malnutrition?
Malnutrition occurs when the body doesn't receive the proper nutrients, caused by not having enough to eat or not eating enough of the right things. However, it's not just about a lack of food; it's often caused by a combination of factors, including diseases such as water-borne diseases like cholera, limited access to clean water and sanitation and lack of access to health services – all of which children in Gaza are facing every day.
Unless unrestricted humanitarian aid and commercial goods are allowed into Gaza at scale, children and their families will continue to face food insecurity and malnutrition. rition.
What happens if malnutrition is not treated?
Children with less severe forms of malnutrition experience delayed growth or impaired brain development, which impacts their learning. Malnourished children also become more vulnerable to childhood diseases such as diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections, and may grow dependent on a lifetime of health care.
Children who have severe acute malnutrition, which is the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, need therapeutic treatment, as food alone will not enable their recovery. However, those who remain untreated are at high risk of dying, which is what we are seeing in Gaza, with more than 119 children having reportedly died of malnutrition in Gaza since October 2023, as of 27 August 2025.
How is UNICEF supporting children impacted by malnutrition?
UNICEF has been on the ground throughout the crisis, supporting children and their families by working alongside local partners to deliver vital nutrition services across Gaza, including screening, treating, and preventing malnutrition among vulnerable children, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Since the ceasefire came into effect, UNICEF has been scaling up its emergency nutrition response by focusing on treating children most severely affected by malnutrition, preventing famine, and helping restore essential health services. Lifesaving supplies like therapeutic milk and essential nutrition treatments are being rushed to hospitals, with the goal of reaching more than 42,000 children and 36,000 women with the care they need to survive.
The ceasefire offers a fragile opportunity to get more aid into Gaza, but severe malnutrition doesn’t end overnight. Children’s lives are at immense risk from severe acute malnutrition, and they need our help to survive and begin the long road to recovery.
Children of Gaza Crisis
The ceasefire brings hope for children in Gaza, but the needs remain urgent. Help us scale up our response.
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