On the occasion of World Food Day, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that the rates of malnutrition and starvation in the Gaza Strip have reached catastrophic and unprecedented levels, which have been directly destroyed by children, the elderly and fragile groups, with the entry of the Strip into its third year under the weight of a war that made it starvation. A daily and deadly reality. The ministry revealed in official statistics that 466 deaths have been recorded as a result of malnutrition and direct starvation since 2024. They will face the levels of “food crisis” or worse until the end of 2026, in continuation of the repercussions of the official declaration of famine in Gaza Governorate in August of 2025. Statistics show that the elderly constitute the highest percentage of Victims of the starvation policy, with 189 elderly deaths (40.5% of the total deaths). The data indicated that 11% of the elderly did not eat any meal for the whole day, while 48% of them had to reduce their food rations for the benefit of their family members, and 68% of them stopped or reduced the doses of their vital medications. As a child, the Ministry recorded the death of 157 children due to malnutrition, representing one third of the total starvation deaths. In addition, 158,001 cases of severe malnutrition were detected among children under the age of five from 2024 to August 2026, including 28,716 severe life-threatening cases. These conditions caused a horrific jump in the death rate of children under the age of five, as it rose from 13.6 to 33.4 per thousand live births between 2022 and 2025, in conjunction with the suffering of 12.2% of the children of the Gaza Strip. From stunting. The ministry expects 74,200 children to need interventions to treat acute malnutrition until April 2027. Pregnant women were not immune to this disaster, as anemia rose to 61% in the year. 2026, compared to 41% before the start of the war. Severe malnutrition and lack of care resulted in nearly 4,000 cases of pregnancies (abortion) recorded during the first half of 2026, more than three times more than what was recorded in the six months preceding it. Out of every three medically classified as “high-risk”. The Ministry of Health stressed that the right to food is an inherent human right that does not fall or get stuck in times of war. to the sector. The ministry also called for the highest priority in relief for children, pregnant and lactating women, and the elderly, as well as providing urgent support to revive and rehabilitate the local food production sector in the Gaza Strip to save what can be saved.
