The Gaza Center for Human Rights confirmed on Wednesday that the Gaza Strip is witnessing a severe outbreak of malnutrition among children under five, indicating an unprecedented deterioration in the humanitarian situation due to continued restrictions on the entry of basic food supplies and the decline in health services more than 30 months after the start of the Israeli offensive.
In a statement, the human rights center said that “more than 71,000 children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition during 2026, at a time when aid flows have decreased by 37 percent between the first and second periods following the ceasefire agreement in October 2025, according to the latest reports from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).”
He noted a decrease in aid from over 167,600 metric tons during the first three months of the year to less than 105,000 metric tons between January and April, asserting that this decline “is due to Israeli restrictions on the movement of goods and aid, the high rate of truck returns, and technical malfunctions in inspection equipment, which have led to a significant depletion of food and fuel reserves within the Gaza Strip.”
The human rights center warned that “more than 13,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and require intensive treatment and immediate therapeutic food to avoid death or long-term health consequences.” It pointed out that children “are the most vulnerable group affected by the conflict, and the outbreak of acute malnutrition could lead to permanent health complications and even preventable deaths if food and medical supplies were not provided in a timely manner.” It was also noted that the percentage of children identified as suffering from acute malnutrition in recent months “reached about 13.5 percent of the children who were examined, while this percentage rose in some areas to the level of 19 percent, which reflects a widespread prevalence of nutritional disease among the civilian population.”
