Children are Gaza are urgently threatened by spiraling acute food insecurity, as a new data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) found 93% of people are experiencing crisis-level acute food insecurity or worse.
The IPC, the leading international authority measuring hunger crises, said in the report that Gaza is “confronted with a critical risk of famine”.
A 25-year-old mother of four in northern Gaza whose children were receiving treatment for malnutrition at Save the Children’s healthcare clinic during the brief pause in fighting, said:
“We know what hunger feels like—we’ve tasted death. Our children are just waiting their turn to die.”
Israeli authorities' total siege on the entry of aid and goods have pushed families to take unimaginable measures to survive, says Save the Children.
Without urgent action to end the siege and to allow food and medicine into Gaza, one million children are at risk of starvation, disease and ultimately, death, the agency said.
In recent days families in northern Gaza have resorted to desperate measures, including eating animal feed, expired flour and flour mixed with sand, out of desperation to survive.
A 30-year-old father living in northern Gaza with his pregnant wife and two-year-old child, said: “I don’t know how to feed my family. There’s no food. I have no choice but to eat things you would never imagine.
“It’s desperate here—chaos. We don’t know what awaits us. No one is living a dignified life. Why is this happening to us?”
Generals' Plan
It’s unfair. She’s weak [his daughter], constantly sick, and can’t get up. She has diarrhea. She’s in pain from hunger. My wife is going to lose our unborn child
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that the Israeli government’s plan to demolish what remains of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and acts of genocide.
According to the HRW, the Israeli forces have implemented tactics involving forced displacement of Palestinian civilians and the imposition of stringent blockades on essential supplies such as food, water, and medical aid.
These actions are part of what has been referred to as the "Generals' Plan," a strategy proposed by former Israeli general Giora Eiland.
The plan advocates for the evacuation of northern Gaza's civilian population, designating any remaining individuals as combatants, thereby justifying military actions against them.
Several organisations argued that this approach effectively targets civilians and undermines the principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law.
Human rights organisations, including HRW and Amnesty International, have expressed grave concerns that these measures may amount to acts of genocide. The deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure and the restriction of humanitarian aid are cited as evidence of intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as defined under the Genocide Convention.
