In Gaza, where bombs have ceased to fall momentarily, hunger has become the silent killer. Children, already robbed of safety and shelter, are now wasting away in the arms of mothers who can offer nothing but tears. Starvation, once an abstract threat, is now the most immediate danger for tens of thousands of Palestinian children. And behind this calculated cruelty is not drought or natural disaster—but a blockade that has deliberately turned food and medicine into weapons of war.

On Friday, infant Oday Ahmed died before reaching his first birthday. His body, weakened by months of malnutrition, finally gave in. His death is not an isolated case—it is part of a pattern of systemic deprivation. As Israel maintains a near-total closure of Gaza’s crossings, essential aid, baby formula, and life-saving medications are denied entry. Gaza’s Ministry of Health has warned that at least 60,000 children are now facing the risk of severe complications due to hunger and the absence of medical care.

The blockade, tightened since early March, has brought Gaza to the edge of famine. The United Nations reports that 91% of the population is now in crisis-level food insecurity or worse. Mothers walk for hours in search of clean water or a piece of bread, only to return with empty hands. In shelters and ruined buildings, toddlers cry not from fear—but from hunger that no lullaby can soothe.

Aid groups have sounded every possible alarm, but their convoys are turned back or bombed. According to UNICEF, over 96% of Gaza’s women and children cannot meet their basic nutritional needs. The most vulnerable—children under two and breastfeeding mothers—are on the front line of this famine. This is not a humanitarian crisis born of chaos. It is the result of deliberate policies, imposed with impunity.

As the world looks away, Gaza’s children continue to die silently—not from bullets, but from hunger.