Palestinian children gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, September 28, 2025. (Photo by Reuters)

The United Nations International Children`s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has warned that thousands of children in Gaza are acutely malnourished, driven by Israel`s ongoing restrictions on food and humanitarian supplies despite a ceasefire agreement that was supposed to allow aid to move freely.

UNICEF said on Tuesday that roughly 9,300 children have been treated for acute malnutrition in Gaza since October, an alarming figure for a besieged population already pushed to its limits.

Tess Ingram, UNICEF`s communications manager for West Asia and North Africa, said the number is "shockingly high," noting that admissions are five times higher than they were in February.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link from Gaza, Ingram described meeting severely underweight infants, some barely reaching one kilogram at birth. She said many are fighting for their lives in hospitals that lack both electricity and basic medical supplies.

According to Ingram, UNICEF could deliver far more assistance, but Israel continues to place "obstacles at every stage," from prolonged inspections and arbitrary cargo refusals to repeated closures of key routes.

She urged Israel to open all available crossings without delay, stressing that commercial supplies are still far below what is needed.

Even basic protein sources remain out of reach, with meat selling for around $20 a kilogram, a price most families cannot afford, conditions that UNICEF says are driving the persistently high rates of child malnutrition.

In August, the UN-supported Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that famine conditions were already gripping Gaza Governorate, affecting more than half a million people, about a quarter of the enclave`s population.

The IPC reported that after nearly two years of unrelenting bombardment and deprivation, Palestinians were facing "catastrophic conditions characterized by starvation, destitution, and death."

The ceasefire between the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and Israel, which took effect on October 10, 2025, obligated Israel to open border crossings and permit unrestricted entry of food, fuel, and humanitarian supplies.

Yet Israel has ignored these commitments, keeping most crossings shut and allowing only limited shipments into a territory devastated by nearly two years of war and genocide.

The Gaza Health Ministry reports that since Israel`s genocidal assault began on October 7, 2023, at least 440 people, including more than 150 children, have died from hunger, deaths that Palestinian authorities and humanitarian groups say were entirely preventable.

The Israeli attacks on the Palestinian territory in the past two years have killed at least 70,366 people. Since the ceasefire on October 10, the occupation forces have killed 377 Palestinians in ongoing attacks on the territory.