Gaza children face worsening food shortages as prices rise and aid is cut

Families say they are struggling to provide nutritious meals for their children as commercial supplies are disrupted.

Huda Abu Leila, 30, says she is struggling to provide nutritious food for her five daughters amid rising prices and shortages in Gaza [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Gaza City, Gaza Strip – It has been months since Huda Abu Leila had to resort to serving only tea and bread to her five daughters for breakfast. But this week, that’s what the 30-year-old has had to do, after Israel restricted the entry of goods into Gaza earlier this month.

After living through three years of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza , and the accompanying blockade that often leaves markets partly empty and goods unaffordable, Huda is used to struggling to provide her children – aged between 18 months and 10 years – with a balanced and nutritious diet.

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But the current situation, with shortages of commercial goods, rising food prices, and cuts to humanitarian assistance, has made it ever harder for her to put enough food on the table.

“We were affected immediately. We couldn’t find eggs or milk, and we don’t have the money to stock up on food,” Huda said.

She lives with her daughters in a tent in western Gaza City. Her husband was injured during the war and can no longer work, while she earns a little money by baking bread for other people.

Some days, the family eats canned beans with duqqa – a local spice blend – or za’atar. On days when food is not as readily available, like this week, they dip bread in tea.

What worries her most is how the worsening situation will affect her children’s health, particularly as she is already struggling to provide them with enough nutritious food.

Israel halted commercial shipments into Gaza on October 14, disrupting supplies of food and other essential goods as families already struggling with high prices faced further shortages.

The suspension came amid a dispute over a demand for merchants to pay 10,000 shekels ($3,225) per truck to bring goods into the enclave.

On October 19, Israel announced that commercial shipments would gradually resume.

The Israeli military body responsible for coordinating aid and commercial access to Gaza, COGAT, said merchants had reported that Hamas had withdrawn the demand. Hamas described the payment as a voluntary contribution to a fund supporting people affected by the war.

The disruption comes as humanitarian assistance is also reduced. On October 19, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced that funding shortages had forced it to cut food assistance in Gaza.

The programme reduced the number of people it supports from 1.6 million in September to 1.1 million in October.

It has also halved food rations, with families receiving one food parcel instead of two, alongside a smaller bag of wheat flour. The number of hot meals WFP provides daily has been reduced from 250,000 to 150,000.

WFP said about 1.4 million people in Gaza, approximately two-thirds of the population, were facing acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse.

Famine was declared in Gaza City in August 2025. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said in December of the same year that it had receded after the beginning of the Gaza ceasefire two months earlier.

Displaced Palestinian families in Gaza fear the impact of rising food prices and aid cuts on their children’s health and nutrition [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Families struggle to provide nutritious meals

For Huda, the crisis means she can no longer afford many of the foods her daughters need for a balanced and nutritious diet.

Eggs have become too expensive. A shopkeeper recently quoted her 60 shekels ($19.40) for a tray. She also said some shops appeared to be holding back stock.

Fresh vegetables have also become difficult to afford. When she goes to the market, which she usually does about once a week, she buys only small quantities.

“Onions cost about 10 shekels [$3.25] per kilogramme, while tomatoes cost between 10 and 15 shekels per kilogramme [$3.25 and $4.85],” she said.

The vast majority of Gaza’s population is unemployed as a result of Israel’s war and its restrictions on allowing the territory to rebuild its infrastructure and economy.

The lack of food is starting to have an impact on Huda’s children. She says that they are struggling to concentrate, and often become dizzy and exhausted.

The health of her eldest daughter, Salma, has become so poor that she is receiving follow-up care at al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza, where a doctor advised Huda to improve her daughter’s diet.

“We have been through so much hardship over the past three years,” she said. “I worry that my daughters will get sick if I cannot provide them with enough nutritious food.”

Raeda Soboh says her family has relied on community kitchens for months, while her children have gone without milk, meat, eggs and cheese [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Fears of malnutrition

For Raeda Soboh, 40, the struggle to feed her nine-member family means her children have gone months without some of the foods they need to stay healthy.

The displaced mother, originally from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza but now living in Gaza City, said her family had long depended on community kitchens, known locally as tekkiya, even before the latest disruption to commercial supplies.

“When a kitchen has food, we eat from it,” she said.

Her children usually have tea for breakfast and a meal from a community kitchen for lunch. In the evening, they sometimes eat falafel, rice, lentils or pasta. But milk, meat, eggs and cheese have been absent from their diet for about eight months, she said. She last bought vegetables about a month ago.

“I don’t buy good-quality things. I buy only what we need and what we can manage to pay for,” Soboh said.

Her experience reflects wider concerns about children’s nutrition across Gaza.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 2,800 children were admitted for malnutrition treatment in September, including more than 360 with severe acute malnutrition.

About 3,000 children aged between six months and five years continued to be admitted for malnutrition treatment each month, OCHA said in a report published on October 19.

A UNICEF-supported nutrition survey published in August also found that 12.2 percent of children under five in areas accessible to researchers were affected by stunting, a sign of impaired growth associated with prolonged nutritional and health problems.

Dr Mohamed B Alraee, a paediatrician and nutrition specialist in Gaza City, warned that prolonged restrictions on food supplies entering Gaza could lead to a further increase in child malnutrition, with children already missing the balanced meals they need to grow and recover.

Despite improvements after earlier periods of famine, hospitals continue to receive children with moderate and severe malnutrition, he said. Cases are not limited to children under five, with older children, including those aged five to 17, also affected.

Alraee said some children were suffering from severe malnutrition accompanied by swelling in the legs, a condition associated with serious protein deficiency. He linked these cases to families surviving on a single meal dominated by carbohydrates without enough protein, because they cannot afford more nutritious food.

“Even when the crossings were open and food was entering, we were still seeing these cases. Children do not recover from malnutrition in a month or two. Some cases need three to six months to recover,” he said. “If the situation continues like this, we expect to see more cases of malnutrition.”

For Raeda, the consequences are already visible in her children’s daily lives. She said they had become weak and easily exhausted, leaving her worried about what months of inadequate food could mean for their health.

“They seem to spend the whole day sleeping. When I ask one of them to carry a water container, he might manage it once but cannot do it a second time,” she said. “I feel sorry for him and ask myself: is he getting proper nutrition? Is he eating like other children?”

The family has no reliable source of income, Raeda said. She also said the area where they live is not recognised as an official camp, leaving them without the same aid vouchers and hygiene supplies received by some other camps.

Like many parents in Gaza, she is left trying to meet their basic needs with whatever food she can find and afford.

“I hope someone will help us and stand with us in these difficult circumstances,” Raeda said. “I hope the war ends, the situation improves and the crossings open, so prices can come down.”

由于商业供应中断，许多家庭表示他们难以给孩子提供营养餐。

30岁的胡达·阿布·莱拉表示，由于加沙物价上涨和物资短缺，她很难为她的五个女儿提供营养丰富的食物。[阿卜杜勒哈基姆·阿布·里亚什/半岛电视台]

加沙城，加沙地带——几个月来，胡达·阿布·莱拉一直只能给她的五个女儿提供茶和面包作为早餐。但本周，由于以色列本月初限制了货物进入加沙，这位30岁的母亲不得不再次这样做。

经历了以色列对加沙长达三年的种族灭绝战争，以及随之而来的封锁（经常导致市场部分空空如也，商品价格昂贵），胡达已经习惯了努力为她 18 个月到 10 岁的孩子们提供均衡营养的饮食。

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以色列在加沙发动的三起袭击中，至少四名巴勒斯坦人丧生（共三起）。

但由于商业货物短缺、食品价格上涨以及人道主义援助削减，目前的情况使得她越来越难以保证家人有足够的食物。

“我们立刻就受到了影响。我们买不到鸡蛋和牛奶，也没有钱囤积食物，”胡达说。

她和女儿们住在加沙城西部的一个帐篷里。她的丈夫在战争中受伤，无法继续工作，她靠给别人烤面包挣些钱。

有时，一家人会吃罐装豆子，佐以杜卡（一种当地香料混合物）或扎塔尔。而像这周这样食物不太容易买到的时候，他们就把面包蘸着茶吃。

她最担心的是，不断恶化的局势会对孩子们的健康造成怎样的影响，尤其是在她已经难以向孩子们提供足够营养食物的情况下。

10月14日，以色列停止了向加沙地带的商业运输，导致食品和其他必需品的供应中断，原本就因物价高企而苦苦挣扎的家庭面临着进一步的短缺。

此次暂停行动的起因是，当地政府要求商户每辆卡车向飞地运送货物需支付 10,000 谢克尔（3,225 美元）的费用，双方因此产生争议。

10月19日，以色列宣布商业货运将逐步恢复。

负责协调对加沙援助和商业活动的以色列国防部下属机构COGAT表示，商户报告称哈马斯已撤回付款要求。哈马斯则称这笔款项是自愿捐款，用于资助受战争影响的民众。

人道主义援助减少的同时，援助工作也面临中断。10月19日，联合国世界粮食计划署（粮食署）宣布，由于资金短缺，被迫削减对加沙的粮食援助。

该计划的服务对象人数从 9 月份的 160 万人减少到 10 月份的 110 万人。

世界粮食计划署还将粮食配给量减半，每个家庭只能领取一份粮食包而不是两份，小麦粉的包装袋也相应减少。该署每日提供的热餐数量也从25万份减少到15万份。

世界粮食计划署表示，加沙约有 140 万人（约占总人口的三分之二）面临严重的粮食不安全状况，达到危机级别甚至更糟。

2025 年 8 月，加沙城宣布发生饥荒。同年 12 月，联合国支持的综合粮食安全阶段分类报告称，随着两个月前加沙停火的开始，饥荒有所缓解。

加沙流离失所的巴勒斯坦家庭担心食品价格上涨和援助削减会对其子女的健康和营养造成影响。[Abdelhakim Abu Riash/半岛电视台]

许多家庭难以提供营养膳食。

对胡达来说，这场危机意味着她再也买不起女儿们均衡营养饮食所需的许多食物了。

鸡蛋价格太贵了。一位店主最近告诉她，一托鸡蛋要60谢克尔（约合19.40美元）。她还说，有些商店似乎在囤货。

新鲜蔬菜也变得难以负担。她通常每周去一次市场，每次都只买少量。

她说：“洋葱每公斤大约10谢克尔（3.25美元），而西红柿每公斤在10到15谢克尔之间（3.25到4.85美元）。”

由于以色列发动战争并限制加沙地带重建基础设施和经济，加沙绝大多数人口处于失业状态。

食物短缺开始对胡达的孩子们产生影响。她说，孩子们难以集中注意力，经常感到头晕和疲惫。

她的大女儿萨尔玛的健康状况变得非常糟糕，目前正在加沙的兰提西医院接受后续治疗。一位医生建议胡达改善她女儿的饮食。

“过去三年我们经历了太多苦难，”她说。“我担心如果不能给女儿们提供足够的营养食物，她们会生病。”

拉伊达·索博赫说，她的家人几个月来一直依靠社区厨房，而她的孩子们却没有牛奶、肉、鸡蛋和奶酪。[阿卜杜勒哈基姆·阿布·里亚什/半岛电视台]

对营养不良的担忧

对于 40 岁的 Raeda Soboh 来说，养活她九口之家的困难意味着她的孩子们已经好几个月没有吃到一些维持健康所需的食物了。

这位流离失所的母亲原籍加沙北部的拜特拉希亚，现在居住在加沙城。她说，即使在最近商业供应中断之前，她的家人也长期依赖当地称为“tekkiya”的社区厨房。

“厨房里有吃的，我们就吃，”她说。

她的孩子们通常早餐喝茶，午餐在社区厨房吃。晚上，他们有时会吃沙拉三明治、米饭、扁豆或意大利面。但她说，牛奶、肉类、鸡蛋和奶酪已经大约八个月没有出现在他们的饮食中了。她上次买蔬菜大约是一个月前。

索博说：“我不买高档货，我只买我们需要的、我们买得起的东西。”

她的经历反映了加沙各地对儿童营养状况的普遍担忧。

根据联合国人道主义事务协调厅（OCHA）的数据，9 月份有 2800 多名儿童因营养不良入院治疗，其中 360 多名患有严重急性营养不良。

联合国人道事务协调厅在10月19日发布的一份报告中称，每月仍有约3000名年龄在6个月至5岁之间的儿童因营养不良入院接受治疗。

联合国儿童基金会支持的一项营养调查于 8 月发布，该调查还发现，在研究人员能够到达的地区，12.2% 的五岁以下儿童受到发育迟缓的影响，这是与长期营养和健康问题相关的生长发育受损的迹象。

加沙城儿科医生兼营养专家穆罕默德·B·阿尔拉伊博士警告说，长期限制食品供应进入加沙可能会导致儿童营养不良进一步加剧，因为儿童已经缺乏生长和恢复所需的均衡膳食。

他说，尽管此前的饥荒时期有所改善，但医院仍然接收中度至重度营养不良的儿童。受影响的儿童不仅限于五岁以下儿童，年龄较大的儿童，包括五岁至十七岁的儿童，也受到影响。

阿尔拉伊表示，一些儿童患有严重的营养不良，并伴有腿部肿胀，这种情况与严重的蛋白质缺乏有关。他认为，这些病例与一些家庭只能靠一顿以碳水化合物为主、蛋白质摄入不足的饭菜度日有关，因为他们无力负担更有营养的食物。

“即使过境点开放，食物也能正常入境，我们仍然会看到这些病例。儿童营养不良无法在一两个月内恢复，有些病例需要三到六个月才能康复，”他说。“如果这种情况持续下去，我们预计营养不良的病例还会增加。”

对拉伊达来说，后果已经在她孩子的日常生活中显现出来。她说孩子们变得虚弱，很容易疲惫，这让她担心几个月食物不足会对他们的健康造成怎样的影响。

“他们好像整天都在睡觉。我让他们提水壶，他们可能第一次能提，第二次就提不动了，”她说。“我挺心疼他们的，心想：他们营养够吗？他们吃饭跟其他孩子一样吗？”

拉伊达说，他们一家没有可靠的收入来源。她还说，他们居住的地区不属于官方认可的难民营，因此无法像其他一些难民营那样获得援助券和卫生用品。

和加沙的许多父母一样，她只能尽力寻找和负担得起的食物来满足家人的基本需求。

“我希望有人能帮助我们，与我们共渡难关，”雷达说。“我希望战争结束，局势好转，过境点重新开放，这样物价就能下降。”