“Children’s bodies are wasting away,” the agency said. “This is not just a nutrition crisis. It’s a child survival emergency.”

More than 5800 children in the Gaza Strip were diagnosed with malnutrition in June alone amid Israel’s ongoing US-backed siege and annihilation of the Palestinian territory, the United Nations Children’s Fund said on Sunday.

According to the UNICEF, at least 5870 malnourished children in Gaza were hospitalised last month for urgent treatment, including more than 1000 cases of severe malnutrition, the most lethal form of the ailment.

Malnutrition diagnoses have increased in Gaza over each of the past four months. In May, 5119 children between six months and five years of age suffering acute malnutrition were admitted for treatment in Gaza, as Common Dreams  reported.

“Child malnutrition in Gaza is rising fast,” the agency warned in a statement. “Children’s bodies are wasting away. This is not just a nutrition crisis. It’s a child survival emergency.”

Gaza medical officials  said late last month that more than 300 Palestinians — including many children and elders — had recently died from malnutrition and lack of medical care due to Israel’s siege and bombing. The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 67 children have died of starvation since October 2023, when Israeli forces began obliterating the enclave in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on Israel.

In addition to blocking food and other humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, Israel Defence Forces troops have killed more than 800 people at or near food distribution points run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. IDF officers and soldiers say they were ordered to fire live bullets and artillery shells into crowds of desperate aid-seekers.

In recent days, Israeli forces have also  massacred children and others queued up for malnutrition treatment at an international charity clinic in Deir al-Balah and waiting for water in the al-Nuseirat refugee camp. The IDF attributed the latter attack to a “technical error”.

More than 310 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for  Palestine Refugees in the Near East staffers have also been  killed by Israeli forces since the start of the Gaza onslaught.

Israel’s forced starvation of Gaza has been condemned by numerous  national governments,  progressive members of US Congress, international human rights groups, and United Nations experts, who have  called the policy genocidal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is  wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder and forced starvation.

Israel’s policies and practices in Gaza are also the subject of a  genocide case before the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and to  allow humanitarian aid into the strip. Israel has been  accused of ignoring these orders. Israeli leaders, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have called for the bombing of Gaza humanitarian aid depots and IDF soldiers — who purportedly fight for the “word’s most moral army” — have posted videos on social media celebrating or mocking the starvation of Palestinians.

Since October 2023, at least 58,386 Palestinians have been killed and more than 139,000 wounded by Israeli forces in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, whose figures have been found to be accurate or an  undercount by peer-reviewed studies. At least 14,000 people are also missing. Most of Gaza’s more than two million people have also been forcibly displaced, often multiple times.

Republished from Common Dreams, 14 July 2025

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.