“Denying them access to food and basic supplies will have lifelong consequences for Palestinian children, if they survive,” the organization warned in a statement. “One million of them in that coastal enclave do not have enough food, including some 335 thousand children under five years of age who are at risk of suffering from severe malnutrition or starvation,” it stressed.

“This is a completely man-made catastrophe that is causing devastating physical and mental harm to children, with potentially life-threatening and life-altering consequences,” said Hannah Stephenson, Global Director of Policy and Advocacy, Health and Nutrition at Save the Children.

Stephenson noted that as children experience increased hunger, their bodies weaken, their muscles begin to waste away, their vision blurs, and their immune systems fail. “Illnesses are inevitable, and pneumonia and diarrhea are the main causes of death for children in this weakened state,” she warned.

Elizabeth White, director of Save the Children in the occupied Palestinian territories, stressed that “the deprivation of food, water and medicine makes child survival in Gaza almost impossible.”

This week, the NGO reported that more than a thousand Palestinian children in the Strip lost one or both legs since October 7th due to Israeli bombings.

Many of the amputations were performed in difficult conditions because the health system there is paralyzed by the conflict and there is a huge shortage of doctors and nurses, as well as medical supplies, including anesthesia and antibiotics, the NGO stated.

Catherine Russell, executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, said last month that Gaza is currently the most dangerous place in the world for children.

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