UNICEF has warned of a deepening child hunger crisis in Gaza, reporting that more than 10,000 children in Gaza City alone need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition as fighting intensifies.
UNICEF’s spokeswoman in southern Gaza, Tess Ingram, told journalists in Geneva that child malnutrition is worsening across the enclave, with an estimated 26,000 children in need of urgent care.
“In August, more than one in eight children examined in Gaza showed signs of acute malnutrition, the highest level ever recorded. In Gaza City, it was one in five,” she said.
Ingram noted that nutrition centres in Gaza City have been forced to shut due to evacuation orders and intensified military action, depriving vulnerable children of life-saving care.
She also warned that displacement is compounding the crisis, describing the forced movement of families as “a deadly threat to the most vulnerable.”
The Israeli army has urged civilians to move southward to the Al-Mawasi zone, promising access to food, tents, and medicine. But UNICEF expressed concern that families, especially children, are being pushed “from one hellscape to another” after nearly two years of war.
According to UN estimates, about one million people lived in Gaza City and nearby areas before the offensive. Since mid-August, around 150,000 have fled south, though many remain trapped or displaced within the city.
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