One in ten children evaluated at UN Refugee Agency clinics in Gaza since 2024 is malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday (15).
“Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates have been increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was intensified for more than four months on March 2,” Juliette Touma, Unrwa’s Communication Director, UN Refugee Agency in Palestinian territory, reporters in Geneva Via Video Link from Amman, in Jordan.
Since January 2024, Unrwa said it has evaluated more than 240,000 boys and girls under five in their clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.
“A nurse we talked to told us that in the past, I only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries,” said Touma.
“Medicines, nutrition supplies, hygiene and fuel material are all running out quickly,” said Touma.
On May 19, Israel raised a 11 -week humanitarian blockade over Gaza, allowing the limited resumption of UN deliveries. However, Unrwa remains forbidden to bring help to the track.
Israel and the United States accuse the Palestinian militant group Hamas to steal aid from UN -led operations – which Hamas denies.
Instead, they created the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using US private security and logistics companies to transport help to distribution centers, with which the UN refused to work.
On Monday (14), UNICEF reported that last month more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe acute malnutrition. It was the fourth consecutive month of increase.
Understand the conflict in the Gaza Strip
The ministry does not distinguish between Hamas civilians and combatants in its count, but states that more than half of the dead are women and children. Israel states that at least 20,000 are combatants.
The Palestine Central Office said on July 10 that the population of Gaza had fallen from 2,226,544 in 2023 to 2,129,724. It is estimated that about 100,000 Palestinians have left Gaza since the beginning of the war.
Between October 7, 2023 and July 13, 2025, according to Israeli official sources, almost 1,650 Israeli and foreigners were killed as a result of the conflict.
This includes 1,200 dead on October 7 and 446 soldiers killed in Gaza or along the Israeli border since the beginning of the terrestrial operation in October 2023. Of these, 37 soldiers have been killed and 197 injured since the hostility of hostilities in March. It is estimated that 50 Israelis and foreigners remain hostage in Gaza, including 28 hostages that were declared dead and whose bodies are being retained.
The UN World Food Program (PMA) stated that this meant that more than 700,000 people were forced to move during this period.
On July 9, 86% of the Gaza Strip was within Israeli militarized areas or under displacement orders. Many people sought refuge in overcrowded places, makeshift shelters, buildings and damaged streets.
