Almost 55,000 preschool-age children in Gaza suffer from acute malnutrition

Almost 55,000 children aged six months to five years in the Gaza Strip suffer from acute malnutrition due to limited humanitarian assistance. This was reported on October 9 by The Guardian newspaper, citing a study by the Lancet medical journal.

"In the Gaza Strip, it is estimated that almost 55,000 children under the age of six suffer from acute malnutrition, which is much higher than the number of children identified...> as victims of a potentially fatal disease," the publication says.

According to the journal, the researchers used hand circumference measurements of 220,000 children in the Gaza Strip between January 2024 and August 2025.

According to their estimates, more than 54.6 thousand children under the age of six need emergency nutrition and medical care. Of these, 12.8 thousand preschoolers experience severe exhaustion.

According to the magazine, in January 2024, 5% of children who underwent screening showed signs of exhaustion, and six months later this figure increased to almost 9%.

After Israel imposed severe restrictions on humanitarian aid from the end of 2024, the prevalence of exhaustion had almost doubled by January 2025.

Dr. Akihiro Seita, Director of Health Affairs at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and author of the study, stressed that the number of malnourished children will increase if military operations in the enclave do not stop.

Humanitarian weakness: Israel blocks Russian supplies to Gaza

The sector was effectively cut off from shipments of food and basic necessities.

On August 23, the press service of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reported that Israel had blocked the possibility of delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. The ministry clarified that they have the opportunity to load 6 thousand trucks for residents of the enclave — the organization's warehouses in Egypt and Jordan are overflowing, but the cargo cannot pass the blockade.

Later, on October 3, CBS News reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally approved two attacks on civilian vessels that were trying to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. It is noted that on September 8 and 9, the Israeli army launched drones and dropped incendiary devices on ships that were moored in the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said, resulting in a fire.

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