Children in Gaza are still suffering the effects of the famine that lasted from August to December 2025, while a new food emergency could develop into another famine, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
OCHA’s head in Palestine, Justin Brady, warned last week that 67 percent of Gaza’s population was experiencing food insecurity. More than 200,000 people—about 10 percent of Gaza’s population—were living in conditions that usually precede a formal famine declaration under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
Families are eating, but children are not fully recovering
At Al-Zawaida camp in central Gaza, Sahar Al-Bardini supports her three children alone. The family can eat more regularly than during last year’s famine, but still has only one meal a day. Community kitchens provide mostly rice and other basic ingredients, with meat rarely available.
Al-Bardini said her children Omar and Sama became very weak and lost substantial weight during the famine. It took them about six months to gradually regain their health and weight after food became more available. She said eggs, vegetables, fruit and meat remain difficult to provide because of high prices and limited income.
Related coverage: Iranian families struggle as food prices surge during wartime.
What the food emergency means for young children
Nutrition specialist Dr Ghada Jibril said parents are relying on rice and lentils to feed infants. Those foods provide some nutrients, she said, but do not supply the varied diet children need after severe malnutrition, including protein, iron, vitamins and minerals.
Jibril said recovery requires regular nutrition and follow-up care. The end of acute hunger does not immediately remove the effects of malnutrition, particularly for children who lost weight during the famine.
The cost of finding enough food
Shimaa, 25, said she could not find enough milk for her two-year-old daughter, Selina, during the last famine and sometimes fed her lentils instead. Selina remains weak and severely malnourished, according to her mother, who said she works day and night to afford food and other necessities.
More context: At least 300 children killed in Gaza since October truce, UNICEF says.
For families with little money, food comes before clothing, medicine and other basic needs. Al-Bardini said she uses any food vouchers or assistance as carefully as possible, but they are not enough to meet the children’s needs.
No comments yet. Start the discussion.