The World Health Organization WHO has raised alarm over rapidly worsening malnutrition in Gaza, warning that emergency treatments are running dangerously low and the impact on children could be irreversible.
"Hunger is threatening to scar an entire generation," said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO's representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, during a press briefing on Tuesday. Speaking via video link from Deir al-Balah, he described harrowing scenes at a hospital in northern Gaza, where over 20 of children screened were found to be suffering from acute malnutrition.
"I saw a child who is five years old, but looked barely two-and-a-half," Peeperkorn said. "Without access to nutritious food, clean water, and healthcare, the consequences will be lifelong-stunting, weakened immunity, and impaired cognitive development."
Since early March, Israel has imposed a strict blockade on the flow of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, coinciding with its renewed military operations against Hamas. The blockade has severely disrupted aid delivery, prompting warnings from international agencies.
On Monday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification IPC-a global hunger monitoring body-reported that nearly 500,000 people in Gaza are facing catastrophic levels of hunger, equivalent to famine conditions.
The WHO has described current aid efforts as "grossly inadequate." According to Peeperkorn, the organization has supplies to treat only 500 children with acute malnutrition-far below the actual need.
Citing figures from Gaza's Health Ministry, he said at least 55 children have died from complications linked to acute malnutrition. Many others are at risk from illnesses like pneumonia and gastroenteritis, which have become lethal due to weakened immune systems caused by hunger.
"You rarely die from starvation directly," he said. "You die from the infections your body can no longer fight off."
Meanwhile, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon of war, telling the BBC that aid was being deliberately blocked from reaching civilians. Israel has denied this claim, accusing Hamas of diverting aid intended for the population-an allegation Hamas also denies.
Israel has proposed a new, U.S.-backed plan to deliver aid through so-called neutral distribution sites, bypassing Hamas. But the WHO and other humanitarian agencies argue that such measures fall far short of what is needed to address the scale of the crisis.
As the conflict continues, health officials warn that without immediate and unrestricted access for humanitarian aid, the crisis will deepen-putting more lives, especially those of children, at imminent risk.