The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has entered a devastating new phase, with UNICEF warning that families are no longer able to feed their children. The agency cautioned that famine is tightening its grip on Gaza City and could soon spread further south if urgent action is not taken.

Parents, displaced and living in makeshift tents, are said to be approaching aid workers in desperation, asking if food will arrive in time to save their children. UNICEF reports that hospitals are overwhelmed, with neonatal wards running at more than double their capacity, while only half of its nutrition centres remain open. Exhausted doctors are now treating children not only for malnutrition, but also for burns, fractures and shrapnel wounds caused by unrelenting bombardment.

The crisis is compounded by the collapse of essential services and a blockade that has left hundreds of thousands of civilians without reliable access to food, water, or medicine. Since October 2023, more than 64,000 people have been killed, with thousands more missing beneath the rubble. Among them are at least 138 children who have died of starvation, a number aid groups fear will rise sharply in the coming weeks.

UNICEF has stressed that hundreds of aid trucks must be allowed into Gaza daily to prevent mass starvation. Yet despite repeated warnings from humanitarian and medical organisations, international pressure has failed to break the deadlock. The reality, aid workers warn, is that children are no longer just at risk of famine, many are already dying from it.