Malnutrition Crisis in Gaza: UN Data, Blocked Aid, and Confiscated Formula
UN agencies documented acute malnutrition affecting 15% of children in Gaza, with aid deliveries severely restricted. Surgeons testified to baby formula and nutritional supplements being confiscated at Israeli checkpoints before reaching patients.
By 2025, the United Nations documented acute malnutrition rates of approximately 15% among children in Gaza — a level the WHO classifies as a humanitarian emergency. In the north of Gaza, where access was most restricted, rates were significantly higher.
Dr. Nick Maynard, a British surgeon who volunteered in Gaza, said on Good Morning Britain that baby formula and nutritional supplements carried by medical teams were confiscated by Israeli authorities on entry. The IDF said checkpoints were necessary to prevent dual-use materials from reaching Hamas. Critics argued that baby formula has no plausible military use and its confiscation amounted to policy-level obstruction of humanitarian aid.
Israel reports facilitating over 100,000 aid trucks by September 2025 (by its own count) and coordinated polio vaccination pauses. It also halted all aid deliveries from early March to late May 2025. The disconnect between these documented humanitarian operations and the testimonies of confiscation and malnutrition is one of the most contested empirical questions in the international debate about Israeli conduct.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a multi-agency initiative used by UN agencies, declared famine in Gaza Governorate on August 22, 2025; Israel disputed the methodology (including the use of MUAC thresholds). In December 2025, after the ceasefire and an influx of aid, the IPC said no area of Gaza was in famine. Regardless of the classification, acute malnutrition causing preventable deaths in children during a conflict constitutes a humanitarian crisis under any standard.
