The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued a stark warning about a sharp increase in acute malnutrition among children in the Gaza Strip. According to UNICEF, the number of children suffering from malnutrition has surged alarmingly in recent months.

In February, approximately 2,000 children in Gaza were reported malnourished. By June, that figure had tripled, and it has nearly doubled again since, posing a critical threat to children’s lives.

UNICEF emphasized the urgent need for a large-scale humanitarian response, noting that while tools for prevention and treatment exist, the ongoing lack of safe and sustained humanitarian access renders these efforts largely ineffective.

The agency called for the immediate and expanded entry of humanitarian aid, alongside a ceasefire, to safeguard the lives of Gaza’s children.

Earlier, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported five additional deaths from famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 217, including 100 children.

Since early March, Gaza’s population has endured unprecedented hunger following the closure of crossings by the Israeli occupation, severely restricting food aid, fuel, medicine, and relief supplies.

Hospitals in Gaza continue to receive malnutrition and starvation cases every minute, with around 900,000 children suffering from hunger, including 70,000 in severe malnutrition.