Save the Children

Children in Gaza Are Still Paying the Price

More than 74,000 children are at risk
of acute malnutrition in the coming months

4 Aug 2026 – Statement of Facts

Save the Children announced that more than 74,000 children under the age of five in the Gaza Strip are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition during the period extending to April 2027, according to the latest data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The findings confirm that Gaza’s humanitarian crisis remains catastrophic and that children continue to bear the greatest burden

The new data show a slight improvement compared with the IPC report issued in December 2025, which projected that 101,000 children would suffer from acute malnutrition between October 2025 and October 2026

However, the report confirms that the impact of the crisis on children remains devastating. More than 11,000 children are expected to face severe acute malnutrition by next April. This is the most dangerous and deadly form of child hunger and requires urgent treatment. The previous report had projected that 31,000 children would experience severe acute malnutrition by October of this year

Save the Children stressed that these figures remain unacceptably high and that the situation is still extremely fragile. It added that, without humanitarian food assistance, around 90 per cent of Gaza’s population, or nearly 1.9 million people, would have faced high levels of acute food insecurity by December 2026

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the world’s leading reference for monitoring hunger, explained that the recent improvement in nutrition indicators resulted from the increase in humanitarian assistance entering Gaza following the ceasefire in October last year

However, the volume of aid entering Gaza began to decline in February 2026, leading to a significant reduction in the distribution of nutritious food parcels and nutrition programmes

Save the Children staff reported that markets in Gaza had become filled with expensive commercial goods, such as potato chips and chocolate. These products have little nutritional value, leaving the most vulnerable families unable to access healthy and nutritious food at affordable prices

The IPC report warned that, despite the recent relative improvement in malnutrition and food insecurity rates, the situation remains fragile and could deteriorate rapidly because of continued severe overcrowding in displacement sites, worsening health services, and the collapse of water and sanitation systems

Ahmed Alhendawi, Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, said

“The latest IPC analysis should not be understood as a sign that Gaza’s children are recovering. Rather, it is a warning that humanitarian assistance has prevented an even greater catastrophe, but that this improvement remains fragile and dangerous”

“Food consumption remains inadequate, and humanitarian assistance continues to be the only lifeline for most families. Any disruption to humanitarian access could undermine the limited progress that has been made”

“Children should not have to pay the price for political inaction. Every delay in ensuring safe, sustained and regular humanitarian access places more children at risk of hunger, malnutrition and preventable disease”

“Governments must use every means available to achieve a permanent ceasefire, ensure safe, sustained and predictable humanitarian access, restore essential services, and create the conditions that allow Palestinian children not only to survive, but also to recover and thrive”

End