GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — As Gaza reels from months of war and blockade, a quiet but devastating crisis is unfolding. Doctors and aid workers say children are now dying from malnutrition, with those who have disabilities and special medical needs among the hardest hit.
Across clinics and makeshift shelters, families describe the same haunting reality: empty shelves, dwindling hope, and children growing weaker by the day. For those who require high-calorie supplements or specialized nutrition, the situation is rapidly becoming fatal.
“We’ve run out of everything,” said a pediatrician in northern Gaza, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Children with cerebral palsy, severe autism, or metabolic disorders can’t survive on plain rice or water. They needed therapeutic nutrition weeks ago.”
Israel’s siege and restrictions on humanitarian convoys have left critical gaps in food and medicine supplies. Hospitals are operating without electricity, relief trucks are stuck at border crossings, and clean water is scarce.
Aid agencies report that the few nutritional supplies that entered in previous weeks have already been exhausted. “We are watching children starve — not because we lack knowledge or tools, but because the aid isn’t getting in,” said one field coordinator with a leading international NGO.
The United Nations has warned of catastrophic child hunger in Gaza since early this year. But the collapse of support systems for those with complex medical needs signals a grim new phase of the humanitarian disaster.
Parents, unable to provide even basic care, are now facing choices no family should make: whether to use their last bottle of milk for an infant or to try to split it between two children. “My son used to get a special supplement three times a day,” said one mother sheltering in Khan Younis. “Now, he hasn’t had a proper meal in six days.”
The growing number of hunger-related deaths — many unreported, many too late to treat — has sparked renewed appeals for unrestricted humanitarian access and immediate medical aid. Without it, doctors warn, the next wave of deaths will be silent, small, and entirely preventable.
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