Gaza: Five Children Starved to Death in 72 Hour

MEDIA CONTACT:

Lucy Carradine, [email protected] 

July 22, 2025

There is not enough food in Gaza and people are starving. Since the beginning of July MedGlobal nutritional teams have witnessed a dramatic rise in the number of severely malnourished children. Within the past three days, five of them were so severely malnourished and medical supplies so lacking that our teams could not save them. 

Nahed was four months old. Sewar was four and a half, Zein one and a half, Jouri two years, and Mohammed just three months old. 

“I have never seen a situation in which so many severely malnourished children perish in such a short time after reaching medical care,” said Joseph Belliveau, MedGlobal’s Executive Director. “This is a deliberate and human-made disaster. Those children died because there is not enough food in Gaza and not enough medicines, including IV fluids and therapeutic formula, to revive them. This is not an inevitable result of war. It is a choice to collectively punish an entire population in its most raw, brutal and extreme form.” 

These five children are not isolated cases; they are victims of a rapidly worsening nutritionalcrisis over the past two months that is spiraling beyond control. Since the beginning of July, cases of acutely malnourished, mainly children, have nearly tripled in MedGlobal’s facilitiesindicating a widespread food crisis. Malnourished bodies lack the strength to fight off other illnesses, and many of the patients admitted to MedGlobal facilities are arriving with other medical complications. 

“Our teams are overwhelmed by the number and severity of malnourished children over the past few weeks,” said Salwa Al-Tibi, MedGlobal’s Country Director. “These are not just statistics they are human lives lost to preventable diseases fueled by chronic hunger and insufficient access to basic medical care.” 

Food is in such short supply that the general population, including MedGlobal staff and their families, are not getting enough to eat. Al-Tibi, who currently houses fifteen members of her extended family including seven young children, is deeply concerned about widespread starvation. “We have witnessed people fainting in the streets, and many, including my health worker colleagues are suffering from persistent dizziness and headaches,” said Al-Tibi. 

MedGlobal mourns the death of five children today. These children did not need to die. Malnutrition is preventable and treatable when resources are available. We call for an immediate end to the inhumane and deadly blockade of food and medicines to Gaza.