As famine tightens its grip on the besieged Gaza Strip, the United Nations Children’s Fund has issued a stark warning: Gaza’s children are now facing the triple threat of hunger, disease, and death. After two months of a total blockade enforced by Israel, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell described the situation as catastrophic.

“For two months, children in Gaza have been under relentless bombardment,” she said, highlighting how basic services and life-saving care have all but vanished. Each day without aid, she warned, increases the likelihood that more children will die—whether from starvation, preventable illness, or untreated wounds.

The Israeli closure of Gaza’s crossings since early March has turned a humanitarian crisis into a nightmare. Aid convoys remain trapped at the borders, fuel is running out, and over 90% of the population is now displaced—many of them for the second or third time. Families are sleeping in ruins or under the sky, where disease spreads faster than help can arrive.

UNICEF’s plea to lift the siege and allow humanitarian and commercial access is only the latest in a chorus of calls from international bodies. But with Gaza’s 2.4 million residents abandoned to survive without aid in what has been widely condemned as a genocidal campaign, time is running out—especially for the youngest and most vulnerable.