“I pray that a truce happens, and they let in food before we die” - a girl supported through one of Save the Children’s child-friendly spaces

GAZA, 29 July 2025 – The number of children under-five with acute malnutrition seen at Save the Children’s Gaza clinics surged 10-fold in four months, the aid agency said, as child deaths due to starvation accelerate and the global humanitarian authority on hunger crises warned that famine is unfolding in Gaza. [1]

Of the 3,533 children Save the Children screened for malnutrition during the first half of July, 259 were admitted for treatment (7%) compared to 28 (1%) in March. The number of children admitted for treatment of malnutrition in the first two weeks of July is close to the total for the whole of June, a trend the aid agency’s staff working at its two primary healthcare centres described as dangerous and unprecedented. [2]

More than four in 10 pregnant and breastfeeding women - 43% - screened at Save the Children’s clinics so far in July were found to be malnourished, almost three times as many as in March when the Government of Israel’s imposed a total siege on Gaza. [3]    

This data comes as the latest report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), found that “the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip”, with more than 70,000 cases of children under five and 17,000 cases of pregnant and breastfeeding women facing acute malnutrition across the Gaza Strip. [1]

So far 147 people, including 88 children, have reportedly died is due to malnutrition and starvation since October 2023, according to the Ministry of Health. According to the UN, at least 25 children died from malnutrition in July alone.