28 July 2025
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) warns of a deepening malnutrition emergency in Gaza, where 44% of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers screened by one of its local partners are suffering from severe malnutrition and urgently need to be referred for medical treatment.
This alarming data was reported by Ard El Insan (AEI), a longstanding local humanitarian partner of MAP, which has been delivering nutrition and medical support to Palestinians across Gaza. It is an almost 10% increase from May, when 35% of mothers screened by AEI suffered from severe malnutrition.
Until last week, AEI operated a medical point in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, which provided essential care and nutrition services to around 200 malnourished women and children every day. But following forced displacement orders issued by the Israeli military on Sunday 20 July, the medical point was forced to shut down.
Mohammed Alkhatib, MAP’s Deputy Director of Programmes in south Gaza, said: “We are extremely concerned about the ongoing humanitarian situation. So far, no therapeutic supplements for malnutrition cases have been allowed in. Alarmingly, we have started to see a rise in deaths linked to malnutrition, not only among children but also the elderly.”
Infants remain the most vulnerable due to a critical shortage of baby formula, with no suitable alternatives currently available. People with disabilities, too, are being left with no access to tailored nutrition support.
Hospital nutrition units are overwhelmed and Gaza’s health system, which has been systematically destroyed by the Israeli military, can no longer meet the growing needs. The long-term effects of malnutrition in children can lead to stunted growth, impaired development, and irreversible cognitive delays.
Mohammed Almadhoun, MAP’s Community Health Worker, said: “This morning, I was dealing with two siblings, aged 11 and 14, who showed clear signs of severe malnutrition. We gave them ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) to try and stabilise their condition. But families tell us that their diet is almost nonexistent. On their luckiest day, they survive on just dry bread and tea. Urgent action is needed!”
Despite the massive disruption caused by the forced displacement orders and the ongoing siege, MAP continues to operate in Gaza – though our ability to deliver services is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous. We are still trying to operate eight other nutrition medical points across southern Gaza. But the scale of the crisis far exceeds available resources.
For months Israel has imposed a complete and suffocating siege on civilians in Gaza, preventing the entry of vital humanitarian aid, food, fuel and medical supplies whilst continuing its military assault. Two months since the establishment of Israel’s militarised aid distribution sites, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food, and thousands more have been injured.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reports that at least 147 people have died from starvation so far this year, including 88 children. Healthcare and aid workers themselves cannot get enough food and are experiencing malnutrition.
Dr Khalid Shawa, a General Surgeon at a Field Hospital in Gaza City, shared this testimony with MAP on the rapidly worsening situation facing medical workers: “I honestly don’t know how to describe it. As medical teams, we’re completely exhausted. We don’t have the calories to keep going, there’s nothing to drink, and no chance to rest, not even between the surgeries that stretch late into the night.”
World leaders, including those in the UK, cannot continue to stand by while Gaza’s population is starved, displaced, and denied the basic right to survive. The evidence of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza is impossible to ignore. Its suffocating siege and renewed military offensive are destroying the health system, starving two million people, and threatening the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
