In a new warning that underscores the depth of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced that children in Gaza are dying at an unprecedented rate due to a rapidly escalating famine, as Israel’s genocidal war continues unabated since 7 October 2023.
UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban, speaking during a press briefing following his fourth visit to Gaza, stated that the situation has reached a critical point, and that decisions made by the international community now will determine whether tens of thousands of children live or are left to die a slow and preventable death.
“You see the images on the news and think you understand, but the truth is, the reality on the ground is far more harrowing than what the cameras can capture,” said Chaiban. “The signs of deep hunger and collapse are etched into the faces of the children and their families.”
He reported that over 18,000 children have been killed since the war began, while more than 320,000 children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition. Malnutrition rates have now surpassed 16.5%, far beyond the threshold at which a famine is officially declared.
Chaiban stressed that “one in every three people in Gaza goes days without eating”, revealing a total collapse in food security and pointing to a catastrophic reality in which famine is being weaponised against civilians.
Since the complete closure of Gaza’s crossings in March 2025, the Israeli occupation has enforced a comprehensive siege, blocking the entry of food, medicine, and essential aid, while repeatedly targeting food distribution centres and supply lines.
Despite international warnings, the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza remains woefully insufficient and irregular. The United Nations estimates that a minimum of 500 aid trucks per day are required, including food, medical supplies, and commercial goods, yet only a small fraction of this number reaches the Strip, under deliberate restriction and interference by Israeli authorities.
The destruction of livelihoods, the obstruction of food and medicine, and the prevention of medical evacuations are not only war crimes under international law, but also constitute core elements of genocide when carried out with the intent to eliminate a particular population group, as is visibly occurring in Gaza for nearly a year.
While UN agencies continue to call for humanitarian aid to be allowed through all crossings, Israeli authorities persist in using the blockade as a weapon of war, amid international complicity and deafening silence from most Western governments; governments that claim to uphold “human rights.”
Unless the blockade is immediately lifted and the war brought to an end, what remains of Gaza’s childhood will not survive. History will record that famine became one of the tools of a silent genocide, carried out in full view of a so-called civilised world; a world that stood by as a child lay dying.
