‘A warning:’ Study estimates more than 54,600 children are malnourished in Gaza

While news of ceasefire plan While relief has arrived and there is hope that more aid will arrive in Gaza soon, massive hunger still persists.

More than 54,600 children under the age of five in the Gaza Strip are estimated to be severely malnourished, according to a new study by researchers at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Published in Lancet medical journal Tomorrow.

The study used upper arm measurements of children aged six months to five years to analyze the prevalenceWhat is known as “acute wasting” – the most severe and life-threatening stage of malnutrition that requires medical treatment.

Children measuring less than 125 mmATRES was referenced in UNRWA’s food programme. According to UNICEF, children who experience severe wasting are extremely thin and have weakened immune systems, which can lead to developmental delays and disease.

Measurements were taken from more than 219,000 children at 16 operational health centers and 78 medical points between January 2024 and August 2025.The authors said the study is the most comprehensive study of child hunger in the region to date.

“After two years of war and severe restrictions in humanitarian aid, thousands of pre-school-aged children in the Gaza Strip now suffer from preventable acute malnutrition and face increased risk of mortality,” Dr. Masako Horino, a nutrition epidemiologist and lead author of the study, said in a statement.

According to UNRWA, about 15.8 percent of children screened till August this year were suffering from acute wasting. The levels of malnutrition reported in the study also show that hunger increased as the fighting and blockade tightened, and decreased during periodic ceasefires.

Dr. Prabhat Jha, a professor of global health at the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford, said the estimates were nothing short of “shocking” – given how much undernutrition fluctuated with the amount of food aid.

“The study is a wake-up call that the levels of malnutrition and childhood deprivation in Gaza are truly staggering,” Jha said.

In a commentary accompanying the study, three experts in child health, nutrition and public policy who were not involved in the research called it “some of the most definitive evidence” of the extent of malnutrition.

“It is now well established that Gaza’s children are starving and need urgent and sustained humanitarian assistance,” wrote Jessica Fanzo of Columbia University, Paul Wise of Stanford University, and Zulfikar Bhutta of Aga Khan University in Pakistan and the Hospital for Sick Children in Canada.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously denied reports of starvation during the war that began due to the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, saying they were “lies” propagated by Hamas, and telling the media that “there is no hunger” in Gaza.

This is despite longstanding warningsHumanitarian groups and medical experts say extreme hunger is having a dramatic impact.

Gaza’s health ministry has said that 461 people, including 157 children, have died from complications of malnutrition since the war began, most of them in 2025. According to the ministry, amid a severe shortage of medical foods, hospitals are filled with malnourished children. The United Nations and many independent experts consider data from the Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, to be the most reliable.

And in August, the world’s leading authority on food crises Announced that famine is looming in Gaza Cityand had the potential to spread to other cities, including Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis.

Study details challenges in getting good data

The study authors acknowledge that their sample is not completely representative – for example, researchers had to stop data collection in Rafah for some time due to military operations in that area. Due to resource constraints the researchers were only able to take one upper arm measurement, which they say could impact how accurate the study results are.

Jha also highlighted that the study relied on measuring the arms of children visiting health checkpoints. He says the sickest children may be overrepresented because they were the ones whose parents would be bringing them to health centers, or it could exclude children who were too sick or marginalized to reach health posts.

According to Jha, measuring upper arms as a way to measure malnutrition is also an imperfect test, because it ignores some people who experience acute wasting.

Given the complexities involved in collecting data in an active battlefield, Jha says the limitations are understandable. “There are limitations, but it seems like it was done reasonably well under the circumstances,” Jha said.

And while the ceasefire in Gaza is beginning to take effect, Jha says the effects of malnutrition are still a concern. Recovery from severe malnutrition requires continued access to food and sometimes hospital treatment, and Jha says experiencing malnutrition can affect a child’s ability to succeed in school later or lead to other chronic health conditions.

“It is concerning that an entire generation of Gaza’s children will potentially face huge health deficits as a result of the conflict,” Jha said.