More than 54,600 children in the Gaza Strip suffer from acute malnutrition, according to estimates from a study issued by the United Nations and published on Wednesday.
From January 2024 until mid-August 2025, the health staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) examined about 220,000 children to monitor cases of malnutrition.
The study, published in The Lancet medical journal, estimates that more than 54,600 children in Gaza suffer from acute malnutrition, including more than 12,800 children in critical condition.
Since October 7, 2023, “Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed, residents have been repeatedly displaced, and humanitarian assistance has been severely restricted,” said UNRWA Director of Health Department and senior author of the study, Akihiro Seita.
He added: “Tens of thousands of young children in the Gaza Strip suffer from malnutrition and preventable diseases, and face an increasing risk of death as a result of the ongoing war. Without a permanent ceasefire and real peace, this human suffering will continue.”
UNRWA explained that during the 20-month monitoring period, the quantities of food, water, fuel and medicine arriving in the Gaza Strip were less than pre-war levels, due to restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities on the entry of aid.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza, leaving 67,183 martyrs, 169,841 wounded, most of them children and women, and a famine that claimed the lives of 460 Palestinians, including 154 children.