Help Children
in Gaza

Famine is the most extreme level of hunger, defined by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). It is confirmed when all three conditions are met:

• Food – At least 20% of households face extreme shortages.
• Nutrition – 15%+ of children are acutely malnourished (as determined by measuring their upper arms) or 30%+ are dangerously thin for their height.
• Deaths – At least two people per 10,000 die each day from hunger or related causes.

On August 22, 2025, the IPC confirmed Famine (Phase 5) in Gaza City and the surrounding area, with famine projected to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by September. At least 132,000 children under five are at risk of dying from acute malnutrition by mid-2026.

The crisis is entirely man-made, driven by severe restrictions on food, water, medicine, and fuel, collapse of markets and farming, destroyed sanitation systems, and blocked humanitarian access.

Save the Children is treating malnourished children, delivering food, water, and medical care, and working with partners to reach families—but without a ceasefire and unrestricted aid, response efforts are severely constrained.

The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. Children are literally starving. Markets are empty, food is unavailable, and malnutrition is widespread — not only among children, but also among pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and the broader adult population.

As our Gaza Humanitarian Director, Rachael Cummings, described to journalist Jonathan Karl on ABC News’ This Week on Sunday, July 27:

“Every child in the health center today was malnourished, but also every adult was extremely thin, gaunt-looking, exhausted. The situation is absolutely terrible here.”

Save the Children teams are seeing a sharp rise in malnourished children at our clinics — and the numbers continue to grow.

Despite these incredibly challenging conditions, our teams are working tirelessly to deliver critical aid to children and families. We're reaching 26 communities daily with clean drinking water, screening and treating children for acute malnutrition, and supporting mothers with nutritional care — even as access remains dangerously restricted.

The "tactical pause" announced by Israel is a short-term measure intended to allow some humanitarian aid into Gaza. While this may offer a glimmer of hope—it is not a solution. A drip-feed of aid is not a response to the urgent, life-threatening conditions facing the over 2 million people in Gaza. What children in Gaza need is a permanent, unconditional ceasefire and a surge of humanitarian and commercial aid supplies via existing land crossings. All forms of life-saving aid—not just food—must be allowed into Gaza immediately with full humanitarian access so that it reaches everyone in need—especially children, who are particularly vulnerable to acute malnutrition and other illnesses.

 In the meantime, our teams will continue to deliver services to children and families as it is safe and possible to do so. But our supplies inside Gaza are dwindling. We have materials waiting at the borders, but it must be allowed in.

Only a definitive ceasefire can allow aid to reach children consistently and safely. A pause that can be lifted at any moment risks reimposing siege conditions that make starvation worse.

“So long as it is not definitive, any pause offers the people of Gaza a glimmer of hope just to replace it with further horrors.” – Ahmad Alhendawi

We have life-saving supplies ready in Jordan, the West Bank, and Egypt. But without guarantees of safety and access, we cannot reach the families who need them most.

Until then, we are doing everything in our power to reach families inside Gaza with services at our health clinics, malnutrition screening and treatment, and water trucking.

Malnutrition is preventable, and it is treatable. We know how to save children’s lives. But that requires sustained access to:

• Nutritious food
• Medical care
• Specialized supplements

Unfortunately, severe acute malnutrition is a life-threatening condition, in which children’s bodies are so malnourished they are experiencing wasting. With timely intervention, children’s bodies can stabilize. This requires medical care and fortified foods. Without quick and sufficient treatment, severe acute malnutrition can result in permanent developmental harm to a child and even death.

A few days of aid cannot undo months of starvation for 1 million children. They need sustained support at scale to recover and survive.

Our two primary health care centers in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis are providing critical maternal, newborn, and child care — screening children and mothers for malnutrition, offering nutritional support, and delivering essential medical services every day.

Here’s what we’re actively doing on the ground:

WATER, SHELTER, AND ESSENTIAL ITEMS

• Providing clean drinking water in 26 communities daily

HEALTH & NUTRITION

• Operating two primary healthcare centers
• Treating malnutrition and supporting mothers and newborns
• Running mother/baby areas for nutritional support

EDUCATION

• Running temporary learning spaces for children aged 3–12
• Supporting children who can no longer access formal schooling

"We will do everything we can to ensure the aid entering reaches and saves the lives of children and families. But a temporary pause is simply not enough.” 

The scale of suffering is staggering. According to Rachael Cummings:

“Mothers went from eating three meals a day to two, to one. Now, they’re not having a meal a day. And this is very, very concerning. And this is at scale.”

This isn’t a future threat — it’s the current reality for hundreds of thousands of families. Children are losing hope. One aid worker shared:

"Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least heaven has food."

Your support can save lives. Donations help us:

• Deliver food and medical care to malnourished children
• Keep our clinics open and staff on the ground
• Mobilize emergency supplies already staged near Gaza
• Continue advocating for a permanent ceasefire and safe humanitarian access