The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on June 19 issued a press release which states that UNICEF-sponsored clinics have treated 5,119 cases of malnutrition in children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years of age just in the month of May in Gaza. This is a 150% increase from February when a ceasefire was in effect and aid was entering Gaza. These figures represent only the children who have been brought to UNICEF-sponsored clinics. Since the beginning of 2025 these UNICEF clinics have been treating an average of 112 new children per day for malnutrition. UNICEF stated that these conditions were virtually “non-existent 20 months ago.”
The most lethal form of malnutrition is called severe acute malnutrition (SAM) which requires supervised, consistent medical care in a clinic, and the number of children in this category went up 146% to 636 cases in UNICEF clinics in May compared to February.
