One in ten Gaza children now malnourished under siege: UNICEF
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UNICEF reports that one in ten children in Gaza is now malnourished, as "Israel's" ongoing siege severely restricts access to food, healthcare, and humanitarian aid.
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Palestinians wait for donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, on July 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has issued a grave warning on Tuesday over the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, revealing that one in ten children screened in its clinics is now suffering from malnutrition.
The alarming figures reflect the deadly impact of the prolonged Israeli blockade, which has weaponized starvation and systematically denied Palestinians access to food, medicine, and basic life-sustaining services.
Speaking to journalists from Amman via video link, UNRWA's Director of Communications Juliette Touma pointed directly to "Israel's" siege as the driving force behind the crisis, stressing that: "Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March."
Starvation policy
UNRWA's findings are echoed by other UN agencies, including UNICEF, which reported over 5,800 malnourished children in June alone, more than 1,000 of whom are suffering from severe acute malnutrition. In northern Gaza, nearly one in three children under two is now acutely malnourished. "Children's bodies are wasting away. This is not just a nutrition crisis. It's a child survival emergency," UNICEF warned.
"Israel's" ongoing assault on Gaza has crippled the food system, destroyed health infrastructure, and choked humanitarian access. Also, aid convoys continue to face repeated attacks, fuel deliveries are blocked, and hospitals teeter on the edge of collapse as generators run dry.
Read more: ‘Skin and bones’: Gaza’s infants starve under Israeli siege
The siege is not only starving Gaza, it is killing those who try to survive it. Since late May, nearly 800 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food aid, according to UN reports. Dozens of them were children, shot or crushed while waiting in line for flour.
Moreover, UN agencies warn that unless immediate and unrestricted humanitarian access is granted, Gaza's children will continue to die from preventable causes in a man-made famine.
