By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Around 12,000 children aged under five in Gaza are suffering from acute malnutrition, and hunger-related deaths are rising, the Director General of the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

“In July, nearly 12,000 children under five years were identified as having acute malnutrition in Gaza, the highest monthly figure ever recorded,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at his organisation’s headquarters in Geneva.

At least 99 people have died, including 64 adults and 35 children, of whom 29 were younger than five, from the start of this year to July 29.

Between June and July, the number of admissions for malnutrition almost doubled – from 6,344 to 11,877 – according to the latest UNICEF figures available.

Some 2,500 of those children are suffering from severe malnutrition.

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, August 4, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Tedros called for greater volumes of sustained aid, via all possible routes.

The WHO said it was supporting Gaza’s four malnutrition centres, but that supplies of baby formula and nutritional foods were very low.

“The overall volume of nutrition supplies remains completely insufficient to prevent further deterioration. The market needs to be flooded. There needs to be dietary diversity,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative for the occupied Palestinian Territory, via video link.

A global hunger monitor has said a famine scenario is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with starvation spreading, children dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access to the embattled enclave severely restricted.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said food consumption across Gaza had declined to its lowest level since the onset of the war.

Eighty-one percent of households in the tiny, crowded coastal territory of 2.2 million people reported poor food consumption, up from 33% in April.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab

Suggested Topics:

Read Next

The Dutch government on Thursday ruled out recognising a Palestinian state for now despite growing public concern over Gaza but said Israel’s actions in the war-ravaged territory were eroding its own security.

Site Index

About Reuters

Stay Informed

Information you can trust

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world’s media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.

Read More