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Malnutrition levels in Gaza have reached alarming heights, with the United Nations warning that tens of thousands of children and women now require urgent medical intervention as food and aid continue to enter the besieged territory in minimal amounts.
Gaza’s civil defence agency confirmed a growing number of infant deaths caused not by violence but by extreme hunger and a lack of access to baby formula and basic healthcare. According to spokesperson Mahmud Bassal, at least three infants died from malnutrition-related causes in the past week alone.
“These tragic deaths didn’t result from direct attacks but from starvation and neglect,” Bassal told AFP.
Displaced father Ziad Musleh, currently in Nuseirat after fleeing northern Gaza, described the desperation families are enduring. “Our children cry from hunger and sleep with empty stomachs. There is no food. If a little does appear, it’s unaffordable,” he said.
At a UN shelter in Nuseirat, children waited for scarce rations, some of them visibly emaciated. An AFP reporter described scenes of kids banging on metal plates, their faces marked by hunger. Umm Sameh Abu Zeina, queuing for food, said she had lost 35 kilograms due to severe shortages and now prioritises her daughter’s nutrition over her own.
The UN and humanitarian organisations report that dwindling supplies have driven up prices to unimaginable levels. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), flour for bread has become 3,000 times more expensive compared to pre-war levels.
WFP deputy executive director Carl Skau, who visited Gaza City in July, said: “This is the worst humanitarian situation I’ve ever witnessed. A father I met had lost 25 kilograms in just two months. While food exists just across the border, people here are starving.”
After the collapse of a temporary ceasefire, Israel enforced a total blockade on Gaza from March 2. Although aid trucks began re-entering the territory at a slow pace in late May, critical food shortages had already taken hold.
“Our kitchens are empty. We are now serving boiling water with bits of pasta,” Skau added.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has recorded the highest ever number of malnutrition cases among children and pregnant women in Gaza. Poor nutrition and unsafe living conditions have resulted in a surge of premature births, often in overcrowded neonatal wards where up to five babies are forced to share a single incubator.
“Due to malnourishment and poor hygiene, babies are being born too early and remain in fragile condition,” said MSF’s Dr Joanne Perry. “Our facilities are overwhelmed.”
Ten-year-old Amina Wafi, from Khan Yunis in the south, captured the heartbreak of Gaza’s children: “I’m always hungry. I ask my father for food, and he tries, but there’s nothing to give.”
MSF also reported that injuries are healing slowly due to protein deficiency, and common infections are lingering far longer than in well-nourished patients.
According to Israeli figures, Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in 1,219 deaths. Since then, Israel’s ongoing bombardment has claimed the lives of at least 58,895 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The UN recognises these figures as credible.
