In a scene that encapsulates the unfolding catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, medical teams at local health facilities are reporting an alarming rise in malnutrition rates among children, under an intensified blockade imposed by the occupying forces.
According to recent data from UNRWA, one in every ten children undergoing medical checks at clinics is suffering from varying degrees of malnutrition, with thousands more in the “imminent danger” category. Field medical sources have documented the deaths of 67 children so far, either from hunger or complications related to malnutrition.
Medical examinations reveal that the crisis has been steadily worsening since March, when the occupying authorities imposed a suffocating siege on what remained of food and aid corridors, blocked the entry of medicines and nutritional supplements, and reduced humanitarian supplies to catastrophic levels.
Hospitals and clinics in Gaza have become delayed rescue zones, lacking effective medical supplies and therapeutic food capable of halting the rapid physical deterioration of children.
This malnutrition is no accident, it is the direct and deliberate result of policies of siege and starvation. Civilians in Gaza, especially children, are subjected to a brutal equation: no food, no medicine, no clean water, no electricity, and no livable environment.
The deaths of children from hunger are not accidental, they are yet another manifestation of the genocide waged by the occupying power since October 2023. This campaign has not been limited to bombing; starvation has been employed as a method of slow killing, in flagrant violation of all principles of international humanitarian law.
Targeting children with starvation is a compounded crime. It strikes the weakest and most vulnerable bodies and is rooted in a systematic effort to thwart any chance of survival. Shockingly, children as young as three or four are now being examined not to receive vaccinations, but to assess the extent of their bodily wasting and the failure of their vital organs.
The deliberate starvation of civilians in Gaza, particularly children, constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity. Legally, it also meets the criteria for an act of genocide, not only because it results in mass killing, but because it is carried out with premeditation and driven by calculated political and military decisions.
The gravest scandal is that all of this is happening in the midst of a disturbing international silence, and a systematic failure to provide even an emergency dose of food or a bottle of medical milk to a dying child.
