In Gaza, famine is claiming its youngest victims. Doctors warn of a surge in Kwashiorkor, a devastating form of malnutrition affecting thousands of children. The disease, caused by a lack of protein despite the consumption of carbohydrates, leads to severe swelling in the abdomen, face, and limbs – a cruel illusion of fullness while the body starves. Often mistaken for satiety, it is in fact a silent killer.

UN data reveal that over 16,000 children have been treated for malnutrition in 2025 alone, with May and June seeing the highest numbers since the war began. Gaza’s Health Ministry reports at least 317 deaths directly from famine, including 121 children, though aid agencies warn that the true toll may exceed 62,000 since October 2023, the majority of them young Palestinians.

Treatment for Kwashiorkor requires urgent medical care, including specialised rehydration and careful protein reintroduction, but such interventions are near impossible amid destroyed hospitals, blocked medicines, and overwhelmed medical staff. Humanitarian groups describe the rising cases as evidence of a deliberate policy of starvation, with an entire generation of Gaza’s children now at risk of annihilation.