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

In Gaza City, many families are struggling to put together each meal for their children as commercial goods are disrupted, food prices soar and humanitarian aid is cut back.

Huda Abu Leila, 30, lives with her five daughters in a tent in western Gaza City. For months, she has grown used to the struggle of providing her children, aged 18 months to 10 years, with a balanced diet. But this week, after Israel restricted goods entering Gaza, the family's breakfast consisted only of tea and bread.

She said the family was hit immediately when they could not find eggs or milk, and had no money to stock up on food. Her husband was wounded in the war and cannot work, while she earns a little money baking bread for others.

On some days, the family eats canned beans with duqqa, a local spice blend, or za'atar. On days when food is scarcer, they dip bread in tea. What worries her most is how this will affect her children's health.

Supply disruption and aid cuts

On 14 October, Israel suspended commercial shipments into Gaza, disrupting the supply of food and essential goods. The suspension came amid a dispute over a demand that traders pay 10,000 shekels (about $3,225) per truck of goods entering the territory. On 19 October, Israel announced it would gradually resume commercial shipments.

COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for coordinating aid and commercial access into Gaza, said traders had reported that Hamas withdrew the demand. Hamas described the money as a voluntary contribution to a fund for people affected by the war.

The development comes as humanitarian aid is also being scaled back. On 19 October, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that a funding shortfall had forced it to cut food assistance in Gaza.

As a result, the number of people receiving support fell from 1.6 million in September to 1.1 million in October. Rations were also halved, with each family receiving one food parcel instead of two, along with a smaller bag of flour. The number of hot meals WFP provides each day dropped from 250,000 to 150,000.

WFP said about 1.4 million people in Gaza, roughly two-thirds of the population, face acute food insecurity at crisis level or worse.

Famine was declared in Gaza City in August 2025. By December of that year, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said the situation had eased after a ceasefire in Gaza began two months earlier.

The cost of an inadequate meal

For Huda, the crisis means she can no longer afford many of the foods needed for her children's balanced diet. Eggs have become too expensive: a vendor recently quoted 60 shekels (about $19.40) for a tray. She also said some shops appeared to be holding back stock.

Fresh vegetables are also hard to buy. On her roughly weekly shopping trips, she buys only small quantities. Onions cost about 10 shekels ($3.25) per kilogram, tomatoes 10 to 15 shekels ($3.25 to $4.85) per kilogram.

Most of Gaza's population is unemployed because of the war and Israeli restrictions on rebuilding the territory's infrastructure and economy.

The lack of food is beginning to affect Huda's children. She said they have trouble concentrating and often feel dizzy and exhausted. The health of Salma, her eldest daughter, declined to the point that she had to be monitored at al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza, where doctors advised Huda to improve her daughter's diet.

She said: "We have been through so much hardship over the past three years. I worry my children will get sick if I cannot provide enough nutrition."

For Raeda Soboh, 40, providing for a family of nine means her children have gone months without the foods they need to stay healthy. The displaced mother, originally from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza and now living in Gaza City, said the family had relied on community kitchens, known as tekkiya, even before the latest disruption to commercial supplies.

She said: "When the kitchen has food, we eat there." Her children usually have tea for breakfast and a meal from the community kitchen at lunch. In the evening, they sometimes eat falafel, rice, lentils or pasta. But milk, meat, eggs and cheese have been absent from their meals for about eight months, she said. The last time she bought vegetables was about a month ago.

Soboh said: "I don't buy good-quality things. I only buy what we need and can afford."

Growing fears of malnutrition

The families' experiences reflect wider concerns about child 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 cases of severe acute malnutrition. About 3,000 children aged six months to five years continue to be admitted for malnutrition treatment each month, according to OCHA's 19 October report.

A UNICEF-supported nutrition survey published in August also found that 12.2 percent of children under five in areas the researchers could reach were stunted — a sign of impaired growth linked to prolonged nutrition and health problems.

Dr Mohamed B Alraee, a paediatrician and nutrition specialist in Gaza City, warned that prolonged restrictions on food entering Gaza could push child malnutrition higher, as children are already missing the balanced meals they need to grow and recover.

He said that although the situation improved after earlier bouts of famine, hospitals are still admitting children with moderate and severe malnutrition. Cases are not limited to children under five but also include older children, including those aged 5 to 17.

According to Dr Alraee, some children have severe malnutrition with swelling in the legs — a condition linked to severe protein deficiency. He associated these cases with families living on a single meal made up mainly of carbohydrates, lacking protein because they cannot afford more nutritious food.

He said: "Even when the crossings are open and food is coming in, we still see such cases. Children cannot recover from malnutrition in one or two months. Some cases need three to six months to recover. If the situation continues like this, we expect to see more malnutrition cases."

For Raeda, the consequences are already visible in her children's daily lives. She said they have become weak and tire easily, leaving her worried about what months of inadequate food could do to their health.

She said: "They seem to sleep all day. When I ask one of them to carry a water can, they can do it once but cannot manage a second time. I feel for them and wonder: will they get enough nutrition? Will they get to eat like other children?"

The family has no stable source of income. She also said the area where they live is not recognised as an official camp, so they do not receive the aid vouchers and hygiene items available at some other camps.

Like many parents in Gaza, she tries to meet basic needs with whatever food she can find and afford. She said: "I hope someone will help and stand with us in this difficult situation. I hope the war ends, the situation improves and the crossings open so prices can come down."