Israel’s starvation of Gaza leaves children stunted
In a small room in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood, six-year-old Amira Rashid lies on a mattress, too weak to move.
Her hands are bruised and blue from the intravenous drips she has been receiving.
Under normal circumstances, the Palestinian girl would be preparing to start her first year of school later this month.
Instead, months of starvation by Israel during the genocide in Gaza have left her severely malnourished and stunted, with lasting effects on her physical and cognitive development.
“I was hoping to enrol Amira in school, buy her a uniform, a backpack and stationery like the other children,” her mother, Aya Rashid, told Middle East Eye.
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“But her health prevents her from leaving the house or interacting with her peers.”
Amira was among tens of thousands of children who suffered malnutrition during Israel’s siege on Gaza, which began in October 2023.
Her family was also among hundreds of thousands who remained in northern Gaza throughout the war.
In August 2025, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared famine in Gaza City, where the Rashid family lived.
“We suffered immensely from hunger and severe food shortages,” Aya said.
“We ran out of flour, and there was none in the markets. With no food aid available, I could only manage to bake barley bread.”
Stunted growth
But Amira’s condition had begun deteriorating months earlier.
In January 2025, after Amira complained of chest pain, Aya took her to Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital.
Doctors were shocked by her height and weight, which were far below what would be expected for her age.
“When a doctor saw her, he was taken aback,” Aya recalled.
“He said she needed comprehensive testing immediately; she was in a terrible condition.”
Tests confirmed that Amira was suffering from severe acute malnutrition, which had caused severe stunting.
Despite watching her daughter grow increasingly frail, Aya was unable to get her the treatment she needed during the war.
Even after Amira was admitted to al-Rantisi, her condition failed to improve. Her weight stagnated, and she stopped growing.
“It’s crushing. I’ve spent so much time in hospitals and with doctors, but they say the malnutrition she endured has severely and permanently damaged her body.”
Today, Amira weighs just 12.5kg and stands one metre tall. Although she is six, doctors say her bone age is that of a two-year-old.
'I have lost all hope of her recovering inside Gaza
after exhausting every
available treatment'- Aya Rashid, Palestinian mother
After the ceasefire was signed in October 2025, Aya hoped her daughter’s condition would finally improve. But little has changed.
“I thought her condition would improve once the truce began and food came in. I never imagined it had reached the point of a clinical illness.”
Doctors have told Aya that Amira’s body is no longer responding to treatment, despite having no underlying allergies or problems absorbing nutrients.
“I have lost all hope of her recovering inside Gaza after exhausting every available treatment. Even the doctors are now saying her condition requires travelling abroad.”
Aya is mourning not only her daughter’s physical decline but also what she describes as a regression in her cognitive development. Amira now mainly interacts with toddlers aged two or three.
“Amira doesn’t know how to read or write, and everyone she interacts with in her surroundings are young children.”
“Do you know what my wish is now?” Aya asked. “To find a pair of trousers that actually fits my little girl’s waist, to stop seeing her ribcage protruding, and to watch her join her peers in a classroom.”
Starved in the womb
In its August 2025 report, the IPC projected that at least 132,000 children under five would suffer from acute malnutrition through June 2026. It also estimated that nearly 55,500 malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women would require urgent nutritional support.
The crisis has left lasting effects not only on children like Amira, but also on babies who were still in the womb when their mothers were starving.
Among them is 10-month-old Amna Abu al-Hasani, whose mother suffered malnutrition while pregnant with her.
Amna was born prematurely by emergency caesarean section in her eighth month, weighing just 1.2kg. Two months later, doctors diagnosed her with an enlarged heart caused by weakened heart muscle, as well as severe stunting.
“My daughter’s malnutrition began in the womb,” Amna's father, Youssef Abu al-Hasani, told MEE.
At 10 months old, Amna weighs barely 5.5kg and was recently diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition.
“My daughter now suffers from major complications in her heart, kidneys and lungs,” Abu al-Hasani, 29, said.
“The doctors told us all these issues stem fundamentally from her being born malnourished and underweight.”
Despite using sporadic cash assistance to buy fruit and nutritional supplements, Abu al-Hasani says he is powerless to stop his daughter’s health from deteriorating.
“The reality is that Gaza’s medical facilities cannot treat my daughter, neither for her malnutrition nor her other health conditions. Even though she has an urgent medical referral to travel abroad, her turn still hasn’t come.”
Abu al-Hasani fears for his daughter’s future. Doctors cannot confirm whether she has underlying conditions without specialised tests that are unavailable in Gaza.
“All I hope for is that my little girl is given a chance at life, that she gets her right to treatment abroad, and returns to our arms in good health.”
Humanitarian crisis
Despite the severely limited capacity of Gaza’s remaining hospitals, medical points and clinics, families of malnourished children have nowhere else to turn.
Israel’s blockade has devastated the territory’s healthcare system while imposing strict restrictions on medical travel abroad.
Dr Mohammed Abu Rai, head of the nutrition clinic at al-Rantisi Hospital, told MEE that the facility receives dozens of malnourished children every day, forcing staff to open additional wards to cope with the influx.
'The entry of food and meat into the Strip is not enough to treat malnutrition among children'
- Mohammed Abu Rai, Palestinian doctor
Although a new report by the IPC this month recorded a decline in acute malnutrition following the ceasefire, it warned that more than 74,000 children would still require treatment for acute malnutrition through April 2027.
An estimated 24,600 pregnant and breastfeeding women were also expected to suffer from acute malnutrition over the same period.
Despite the ceasefire, Israel has failed to meet its obligations to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, perpetuating the humanitarian crisis it created.
“The entry of food and meat into the Strip is not enough to treat malnutrition among children or even resolve the food crisis for the population post-ceasefire,” Abu Rai said.
“Vegetables and fruits entering Gaza are sold at exorbitant prices that most people simply cannot afford.”
Abu Rai also pointed to the poor quality of meat available in Gaza. With poultry and livestock farms destroyed, the territory is now almost entirely reliant on frozen meat.
“Frozen meat has half the nutritional value of fresh meat, and Gaza’s severe power outages and poor storage reduce its benefits even further,” he said.
Meanwhile, funding shortfalls are forcing aid agencies to cut food rations in Gaza, risking a further deterioration in food security, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
Abu Rai said aid supplies can also sit for weeks under the scorching sun at border crossings, further degrading essential food and nutritional products.
“Even staples like rice and lentils lose their nutritional value, while children’s supplements arrive in quantities far too small for even a single family,” he said.
As more children suffer from malnutrition, the number experiencing stunted growth is also rising.
“Malnutrition leads to severe growth disorders like stunting due to a lack of vital nutrients,” Abu Rai said, adding that roughly 18 percent of his patients are currently affected.
While Abu Rai moves between hospital beds, monitoring his young patients, the Rashid and Abu al-Hasani families anxiously check their phones, waiting for a message or call confirming a date for their children to travel abroad for treatment.
“We miraculously survived certain death multiple times during the war,” Aya Rashid said.
“What I fear now is losing my little girl to malnutrition, not to bombs."
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