Malnutrition in Gaza: what the latest figures show

What the latest survey found

The most detailed recent picture comes from a SMART nutrition survey led by UNICEF through the State of Palestine Nutrition Cluster. It measured 1,335 children aged 0 to 59 months across 147 clusters between 31 May and 15 June 2026, and was published on 24 August 2026. Its main findings:

• Acute malnutrition among children under five was low in the areas surveyed.
• Stunting, a sign of long-term malnutrition, affected 12.2% of children under five; 4.0% were overweight.
• Only 22.4% of children aged 6 to 23 months received a minimum acceptable diet, and 73.0% had eaten unhealthy foods the previous day.
• 37.1% of children under five had had diarrhoea in the two weeks before the survey.
• Malnutrition was also found among girls and women aged 15 to 49.

What screening shows now

Nutrition partners also screen children continuously. In the first half of September 2026 they screened 31,443 children aged 6 to 59 months: 899 (about 3%) were diagnosed with acute malnutrition and admitted for treatment, including 99 with the most severe form, according to OCHA's 2 October 2026 report. In the first half of August, 2,613 of 36,240 children screened (7.2%) had been admitted, including 271 with the most severe form. Screening figures describe the children who were screened, not every child in Gaza, so they are best read as a trend.

The survey also has a gap. Around 17% of Gaza's population, some 358,000 people, were left out of the sample because of access and security constraints, so the findings describe accessible areas only. The IPC similarly noted areas near the "yellow line" it could not reach.

Acute and chronic malnutrition: wasting and stunting

Acute malnutrition, or wasting, means a child is dangerously thin for their height or has swelling (oedema) from lack of nutrients. It reflects recent conditions and can change quickly, for better or worse. This is what screening programmes look for, and what the IPC's acute malnutrition scale measures. Our guide to IPC phases explains that scale.

Chronic malnutrition, or stunting, means a child is too short for their age. It builds up over months and years of poor diet and illness. As UNICEF's regional director put it: "Acute malnutrition can improve within weeks. The wider damage does not." UNICEF's executive director has warned that some children may never fully recover.

How malnutrition is treated

Treatment starts with screening: health and nutrition workers measure children and refer those who are malnourished. Children with acute malnutrition receive specialised therapeutic or supplementary foods; the most severe cases with medical complications go to inpatient stabilization centres.

Prevention matters as much. In the first half of August 2026, 134,821 children aged 6 to 59 months and 53,265 pregnant and breastfeeding women received lipid-based nutrient supplements through blanket supplementary feeding, delivered from 281 nutrition sites. Before the October 2025 ceasefire, that kind of feeding had largely stopped across Gaza, so the supplies needed to stop children becoming malnourished in the first place were not reaching them.

Why water and disease matter

Food alone does not prevent malnutrition. Diarrhoea and other infections stop children absorbing nutrients, and malnourished children get sick more easily, so the two feed each other. With more than a third of young children recently ill with diarrhoea, safe water and sanitation are part of the nutrition response. UN agencies warn that without restored water, sanitation and health services, disease outbreaks risk eroding nutrition gains. See water aid for Gaza.

"Children need safe water, health care, and diverse and nutritious food, not only enough calories to survive," UNICEF said. The gains so far rest on a supplementary feeding programme that does not reach every child and whose funding is running out, and UNICEF warns progress could be reversed within months. For the wider picture, see is there famine in Gaza and Gaza food aid.