Displaced Palestinians carry food parcels as they raid trucks carrying humanitarian aid in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on August 9, 2025. Photo by AFP
New York: United Nations (UN) humanitarian organizations called for urgent action after medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported the deaths of more than 100 children from malnutrition since the start of the war in October 2023.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described on its official website the surpassing of the 100-child death toll as a "devastating milestone that shames the world and demands long overdue urgent action."
The World Food Programme (WFP) stated, for its part, that more than 300,000 children in Gaza are facing severe risk, and that more than one-third of the population reported going without food for several consecutive days.
WFP stressed that meeting food needs requires more than 62,000 tons per month, while the quantities currently allowed in remain far below the minimum necessary to keep around two million people alive.
According to OCHA, the UN and its partners managed last Sunday to bring in some food, fuel, and supplies through the Kerem Abu Salem crossing, but the shipments were offloaded before reaching their intended destinations.
The Office explained that the Israeli occupation authorities are allowing in about 150,000 liters of fuel per day, far below what is needed to sustain life-saving operations.
Reports indicated that more than half of Gaza's ambulances are out of service due to fuel shortages and lack of spare parts, while the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that only 1.5 percent of the territory's farmland remains usable, signaling an almost complete collapse of the local food system.
