GAZA — After two years of war and widespread food shortages, more than 54,600 children under age 5 in Gaza are acutely malnourished, including over 12,800 suffering from severe malnutrition, according to a new United Nations study published Wednesday in The Lancet medical journal.
The analysis, conducted by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), found that as of early August, 16% of children aged 6 months to just under 5 years were experiencing acute wasting — a life-threatening form of malnutrition — while nearly 4% were severely wasted.
“Tens of thousands of preschool-aged children in the Gaza Strip are now suffering from preventable acute malnutrition and face an increased risk of mortality,” said Dr. Masako Horino, the study’s lead author.
The findings are based on screenings of nearly 220,000 children across dozens of UNRWA health centers and clinics between January and mid-August 2025, making it the most comprehensive assessment of child hunger in Gaza to date.
Acute wasting requires urgent treatment with therapeutic food and, in severe cases, hospitalization.
Gaza’s hospitals, however, remain overwhelmed and under-equipped due to continuing Israeli bombardment and aid restrictions.
In an accompanying commentary, experts from Columbia University, Stanford University, and Aga Khan University described the findings as “some of the most definitive evidence” of child starvation during the war.
“It is now well established that the children of Gaza are starving and require immediate and sustained humanitarian assistance,” wrote Jessica Fanzo, Paul Wise, and Zulfiqar Bhutta.
The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has denied reports of famine, dismissing them as “lies” promoted by Hamas.
But aid groups and international agencies have for months warned that Israeli restrictions on food and humanitarian access — compounded by relentless military operations — are driving starvation, particularly among children and pregnant women.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, 461 people, including 157 children, have died from complications of malnutrition since the conflict began, most of them in 2025.
The U.N. and international observers generally consider the ministry’s data credible.
The study also found that malnutrition rates temporarily improved during brief humanitarian pauses — such as the six-week ceasefire in early 2025 — but spiked sharply when aid deliveries were blocked for extended periods.
Israel imposed a total siege for more than two months starting in March, later allowing limited supplies through a U.S.-backed distribution system that required Palestinians to cross Israeli military checkpoints to access aid.
According to the U.N., over 1,000 Palestinians were killed in and around those distribution sites.
Despite the worsening crisis, some humanitarian shipments have begun reaching Gaza. The U.S.-based nonprofit Edesia said it delivered 1,500 boxes of therapeutic food on Sept. 28 and plans to send 15,000 more by air and sea in the coming weeks.
In August, a U.N.-backed food security panel confirmed famine conditions in parts of Gaza, following months of warnings that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were facing catastrophic hunger.
UNRWA said two of its workers involved in the child malnutrition screenings were among 21 agency health staff killed in Gaza, bringing the total number of UNRWA personnel killed in the conflict to more than 370. — Agencies
