CHILDREN STARVED IN PLAIN SIGHT AS FAMINE CONFIRMED IN GAZA

Toronto, August 22, 2025 – At least 132,000 children aged under five in Gaza are at risk of death from acute malnutrition as new data confirms famine in Gaza Governorate and warns this is likely to spread in the coming weeks, Save the Children said. 

The famine classification comes as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) also reported that over half a million people in Gaza, about half of whom are children, are facing catastrophic hunger, the worst-case IPC Phase 5.  

This is the first time a famine has officially been confirmed in the Middle East region. 

According to the latest report, acute malnutrition is projected to worsen rapidly, with the number of children under five in Gaza at risk of death between now and June 2026 having doubled since May. 

As Israel’s military offensive in northern Gaza intensifies, hundreds of thousands of people will be forcibly displaced south, including to Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis, where famine is expected to be classified by the end of September. 

Save the Children President and CEO Danny Glenwright said: 

“The world has been watching as children have suffered the unthinkable for nearly two years in Gaza, and now, we have confirmation that hundreds of thousands are being slowly starved to death. None of us should accept this.  

“All of Gaza is being systematically starved by design, and children are paying the highest price. The world has failed to act as their tiny, emaciated bodies have been overcome by hunger and disease and shut down. This engineered famine is the ultimate and inevitable result of the Government of Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war. The sustained siege on food, medicine and fuel was bound to lead to this preventable catastrophe. There is no world leader who did not know this was coming, who hasn’t been warned again and again. 

 “A trickle of aid in recent days is a drop in the ocean only and serves to show the Government of Israel could end the food shortages whenever they choose and stop famine from spreading to other parts of Gaza. Our teams can save more lives and bring more children back from the precipice as soon as aid flows are restored.   

“But many effects of famine cannot be reversed, especially for children. The death and loss, the physical and mental harm, will last lifetimes and even generations. Our health and nutrition teams are overloaded amid the tide of hunger and disease even while treating hundreds of malnourished children each month. In the first two weeks of August, well over half of pregnant women and new mothers screened at our clinics were malnourished – nearly seven times higher than before the siege began in March. Malnourished mothers are more likely to give birth to smaller babies, perpetuating a cycle of malnutrition that can affect future generations. Palestinian children are their society’s future – and that future, and theirs, has been irrevocably undermined. 

“Famine means there are no more breaking points and no more alarm bells. The Government of Israel must immediately end the use of starvation as a weapon of war and lift the siege of the Gaza Strip, allowing aid including food and nutrition supplies into Gaza at the scale required, and restore electricity, fuel and water. 

 “And the international community must finally take every possible step to stop the Government of Israel from intentionally starving children and families in Gaza.”  

ENDS 

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• In the first two weeks of August, 61% of pregnant women and new mothers screened at Save the Children’s clinics have been found to be malnourished, nearly seven times higher than the rate in the first two weeks of March (9%), before aid and goods were almost completely cut off. 

• Doctors in Save the Children health clinics are seeing around 100 patients a day, double the number of their recommended caseload. 

• Save the Children has been unable to get any of its own aid into Gaza since 2 March and has 45 trucks-worth of aid including medicines, shelter items and hygiene kits waiting in warehouses. 

• Save the Children is responding to the famine crisis in Gaza in our two primary healthcare clinics in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah by providing nutrition screening and treatment to children under 5, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Our treatment package includes providing medical interventions, supplements and high calorie biscuits and pastes to malnourished children and mothers.  Since the start of the war, our two clinics have helped over 113,000 people, including over 42,000 children.

• According to the IPC, through June 2026, at least 132,000 children under the age of five are at risk of death from acute malnutrition. This number has doubled compared to the IPC estimates reported in May 2025.