Quote from Alex bobby on July 25, 2025, 10:07 AM

Gaza Hospital Reports First Child Deaths from Hunger as Aid Crisis Deepens

For the first time since the Israel-Hamas war erupted, Gaza’s main paediatric emergency facility has begun to report the deaths of previously healthy children due to hunger. Medical staff at the Patients’ Friends Hospital in northern Gaza confirmed over the weekend that children with no pre-existing health conditions are now dying from severe malnutrition, marking a devastating new phase in the territory’s worsening humanitarian crisis.

Dr. Rana Soboh, a nutritionist at the hospital, described the situation in stark terms: “There are no words in the face of the disaster we are in. Kids are dying before the world. There is no uglier and more horrible phase than this.”

A Crisis Reaching Breaking Point

Each day, between 200 and 300 children are brought to the hospital by desperate parents hoping for a lifeline. But doctors say the situation is growing increasingly dire. Unlike earlier in the war—when, despite limited resources, many children recovered—patients are now deteriorating rapidly and staying longer without improvement.

In the past three weeks alone, at least 48 people have died from malnutrition-related causes in Gaza, including 20 children and 28 adults, according to figures from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. In stark contrast, only 10 child hunger deaths were reported in the first five months of 2025.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) corroborated these alarming developments, confirming that 21 children under the age of five have already died this year from causes linked to malnutrition.

“This is the beginning of a population death spiral,” warned Dr. John Kahler, a paediatrician and co-founder off the medical NGO MedGlobal. Having volunteered twice in Gaza during the war, Dr. Kahler explained, “Humans are well developed to live with caloric deficits, but only so far. It appears that we have crossed the line where a segment of the population has reached their limits.”

100,000 Women and Children at Risk

According to the World Food Programme, nearly 100,000 women and children in Gaza urgently require treatment for acute malnutrition. Medical professionals across the Strip say that they have run out of essential therapies and medications needed to treat severe hunger-related complications.

Doctors say that the collapse of Gaza’s health infrastructure, combined with insufficient humanitarian access, is creating an impossible situation for both caregivers and families. The lack of electricity, water, and sanitation is compounding the crisis, particularly for children and nursing mothers.

Humanitarian Aid Blocked and Politicised

Gaza’s descent into famine is being accelerated by restrictions on aid delivery. In January, Israel banned the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)—the main UN body responsible for Palestinian aid—from operating in Gaza, citing allegations that Hamas had infiltrated the organisation. Israel has not provided concrete evidence, and UNRWA denies knowingly employing anyone affiliated with militant groups.

Israel also accuses Hamas of looting aid, turning it into a war profiteering tool. Hamas denies these claims, stating that Israel is weaponising starvation as a tactic of war.

Meanwhile, the people of Gaza are caught in the middle.

“There is no justification—legal, moral, or humanitarian—for obstructing life-saving aid to children,” said a UN spokesperson in Geneva. “What we are witnessing is a preventable catastrophe spiralling out of control.”

International Outcry Mounts

The global response is growing more urgent. On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the UN Security Council, describing the Gaza crisis as a “horror show.”

“We are witnessing a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times,” Guterres said, urging all parties to allow unhindered humanitarian access. “Famine is no longer a threat—it is a reality. And children are dying as the world watches.”

Human rights organisations, including Save the Children and Medicines Sans Frontier’s (Doctors Without Borders), are also sounding the alarm, calling for an immediate ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian aid corridors.

A Generation at Risk

For Gaza’s children—many of whom have known nothing but conflict—this crisis marks a potentially irreversible setback. Malnutrition in early childhood can have long-term effects on physical and cognitive development, even if the immediate threat of death is averted.

“What is happening in Gaza is not just a humanitarian emergency—it’s a moral failure,” said Dr. Kahler. “We are watching a generation slip through our fingers.”

The Path Forward

The immediate priority must be the rapid restoration of humanitarian aid flows into Gaza. Medical supplies, nutritional supplements, clean water, and fuel are all urgently needed. But beyond aid, a political solution is imperative to stop the cycle of siege and suffering.

Until then, hospitals like Patients’ Friends will continue to face the unthinkable—choosing which children they can try to save with resources that are vanishing by the day.

Conclusion

The first reported deaths of previously healthy children from hunger in Gaza mark a devastating turning point in an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis. As hospitals overflow and aid dwindles, Gaza’s most vulnerable—its children—are bearing the brunt of a conflict they did not choose.

What was once a warning of looming famine has now become a deadly reality. Without immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access and a political breakthrough to halt the violence, the situation will only deteriorate further. The world cannot claim ignorance; it can only choose whether to act—or stand by as another generation perishes from preventable hunger.

Meta Description

As child deaths from hunger are now a grim reality in Gaza, the world faces a moment of reckoning. Will the international community act to stop this crisis—or continue to bear witness as more innocent lives are lost?