Gaza’s Starving Children Face Crisis as Aid Fails

Children treated in a temporary field hospital in Mouraj, a neighbourhood in the south of the Gaza Strip.

As Israeli forces pressed to take full control of Gaza City on Wednesday, reports emerged that nine-year-old Jana Ayed, whose plight had been highlighted by UNICEF, has died.

UNICEF Communication Manager Tess Ingram announced Jana’s death in an online video, explaining that she had been treated in hospital twice and recovered, only to waste away on 17 September amid continuing Israeli aid restrictions.

“The world failed Jana so many times, failed her on food, twice,” Ingram said. “A little girl forced to endure so much pain because of deliberate decisions to restrict food entry into Gaza.”

Jana had been evacuated for treatment in southern Gaza over a year ago and recovered. Ingram recalled, “I remember holding her frail little hand and helping her into the ambulance.”

After discharge, Jana and her mother returned to northern Gaza during a ceasefire. But the blockade allowed hunger to return, claiming the life of Jana’s two-year-old sister, Jouri, in August. Ingram warned that Jana was “barely hanging on” at a Gaza City hospital.

Gaza’s war-shattered health system could not provide the care she needed. “Her last hope, medical evacuation out of Gaza, failed her. No country stepped up,” Ingram said.

Children suffering from acute malnutrition receive Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) at the enclave’s last hospitals, including Friends of the Patient Society Hospital where Jana was treated.

The WHO reported that four hospitals in northern Gaza had shut down this month, leaving only 14 operational hospitals. Humanitarians warn they are overwhelmed with trauma cases.

UNICEF stressed that Gaza’s malnutrition crisis has reached catastrophic levels, with over 320,000 children under five at risk. In July alone, 13,000 children were acutely malnourished—a more than 500% increase since the start of the year.

“This war must end. Aid must be allowed into Gaza, including food and nutrition supplies,” Ingram said. “The children of Gaza are being punished by these decisions, and it’s killing them.”

Medical evacuations coordinated by WHO have helped 7,841 patients leave Gaza since 7 October 2023, over 5,330 of whom were children. Approximately 15,600 patients still need evacuation. WHO continues to call for more countries to accept patients and for the restoration of medical referrals to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.