Islamabad: Nearly one in six children in Gaza are now acutely malnourished as food supplies dwindle under Israel’s prolonged blockade and restrictions on humanitarian aid, leaving tens of thousands of children facing starvation and irreversible health damage. The situation, described by global health experts as “preventable and man-made,” has reached famine levels, according to new research published in The Lancet.
The data, collected through the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), shows that the rate of wasting among children under five rose from just 5 percent in early 2024 to nearly 16 percent by August 2025.
Severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, reached almost 4 percent, representing more than 12,000 children at immediate risk of death without urgent therapeutic feeding and medical care.
Between January 2024 and August 2025, UNRWA health workers carried out more than 265,000 screenings across 16 health centres and 78 medical points in shelters and encampments throughout Gaza’s five governorates. The trends were unmistakable: every period of tightened aid restrictions was followed by a surge in malnutrition.
When aid briefly resumed during a six-week ceasefire in early 2025, wasting levels temporarily declined to 5.5 percent, only to rebound to 15.8 percent after an 11-week blockade that choked the entry of food, fuel, and medicines.
According to the study led by Prof. Zulfiqar Bhutta, famine conditions were confirmed in Gaza City, where nearly one-third of screened children were acutely wasted. Similar rates were recorded in Rafah and Khan Younis, where ground operations and mass displacement left families without access to food or medical support.
“These data represent a heroic effort by UNRWA staff operating under unimaginable conditions and show grievous, preventable harm to children,” said Professor Zulfiqar A. Bhutta of Aga Khan University, lead author of the study. He urged the global community to act decisively to end the weaponisation of starvation and provide unrestricted humanitarian access.
The UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared famine in Gaza City in August 2025 and an emergency-level hunger crisis across the rest of the Strip. Before the war, around 500 aid trucks entered Gaza daily; by late 2024, that number had fallen below 100, with many shipments blocked or delayed for weeks.
According to UNICEF and WHO, over 600,000 children in Gaza now need urgent nutrition support, with half already suffering acute malnutrition. WHO warns that prolonged undernourishment among children under five can cause irreversible stunting, brain damage, and lifelong vulnerability to disease.
In comparison, child wasting rates in neighbouring countries remain under 5 percent — 3.4 percent in Jordan, 4.5 percent in Egypt, and 5 percent in Lebanon underscoring the scale of Gaza’s collapse. Even Yemen, long considered the world’s worst hunger crisis, reports lower current levels than Gaza.
Professor Bhutta cautioned that the damage extends beyond immediate hunger. “The intergenerational effects of starvation including higher risks of chronic disease and reduced life expectancy will haunt Gaza’s future for decades,” he said.
The Lancet commentary, co-authored by Bhutta, Jessica Fanzo of Columbia University, and Stanford’s Paul Wise, said the crisis meets the legal definition of genocide as determined by the UN Commission of Inquiry. It calls for immediate ceasefire, full humanitarian access, and coordinated action through the G7, G20, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to halt the ongoing catastrophe.
“The children of Gaza are starving,” Professor Bhutta said. “Without immediate action, this tragedy will continue to unfold in new data tables and graphs that both document and obscure the mass suffering visible in the shriveled arms and swollen bellies of Gaza’s children.”
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