oPt: Food security and child nutrition crises persist in Gaza, despite fragile gains due to increased humanitarian aid

Rome/New York – New analysis released today shows improvements in food security and child nutrition across the Gaza Strip. However, the United Nations cautioned that the progress, driven largely by expanded access to humanitarian food, nutrition, agricultural and health assistance, remains fragile. While access into Gaza has improved, only one crossing – Kerem Shalom/ Abu Salem – in the south of Gaza remains open, limiting the flow of essential goods that can assist with recovery and leaving the majority of the population dependent on humanitarian aid. The people of Gaza are still struggling to recover their livelihoods, local food systems and essential services. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF, and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) highlighted that improvements in food security and nutrition indicators show how quickly conditions can improve when humanitarian response and commercial activity are scaled-up. However, the agencies warned that families in Gaza are still struggling to meet basic needs and improvements could be reversed quickly without sustained humanitarian aid, private sector reactivation, funding, and investment in recovery. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis outlined populations in greatest need and showed improvements in food security and child nutrition since December 2025. • An estimated 1.4 million people - 67 percent of Gaza’s population - are currently experiencing crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above). This is a decrease from 1.6 million people, or 77 percent of the population, at the end of last year. • An estimated 212,000 people remain in Emergency conditions (IPC Phase 4), many of them living in areas near the Israeli military-controlled line where access to humanitarian aid and services remains particularly challenging. • Four governorates (North Gaza, Gaza, Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis) are expected to face “alert” levels of malnutrition (IPC phase 2). Some areas near the “yellow line” remained inaccessible to analysts during the survey period, leaving insufficient data for a classification. A significant scale-up in food and nutrition assistance has taken place since the ceasefire agreement was reached in October 2025. In May 2026 alone: • Food parcels reached around 1.5 million people • Multipurpose cash assistance peaked at around 700 000 people • Nutrition support reached 60 percent of children under-5 with access to acute malnutrition treatment also increasing. This compares to September 2025, when around 500,000 people were reached with some form of food assistance and nutrition coverage for children under-5 was less than 1 percent. Immediate improvements in food security were observed following the scale-up and this IPC confirms the trend has continued. Despite these gains, food rations remain insufficient in quantity, quality and dietary diversity. Compounding the problem, commercial imports of fresh produce and proteins are inconsistent. An overall improvement in malnutrition rates is largely attributable to the rapid expansion of nutrition prevention programmes, alongside increased access to treatment for severe and moderate malnutrition. These gains remain highly dependent on sustained humanitarian assistance and have occurred despite continued shortages of nutritious foods, recurrent disease outbreaks, limited access to safe water and sanitation, and the near collapse of livelihoods. Some 74,000 children are still expected to require treatment for acute malnutrition over the coming year, with approximately 25,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women requiring nutrition support in the same period. While any significant recovery of livelihoods or broader economic activity has yet to begin, there are early signs that local food production can be restored where farmers and herders are able to access cropland, agricultural inputs, productive assets, veterinary support and other essential services such as energy for irrigation. This is already evident in the livestock sector, where sheep inventories have increased by 33 percent in areas where support has been sustained. Communities are showing considerable resourcefulness in restarting small-scale economic activity wherever conditions allow. However, this can only go so far without the removal of restrictions on what enters the Strip. More than 70 percent of Gaza's cropland is not accessible, placing it out of reach regardless of damage or input access, and only 3 percent is currently usable. Recovery cannot happen at scale while this land remains inaccessible and while there are continued restrictions on the commercial import and humanitarian delivery of agricultural inputs. This includes the import of non-dual-use agricultural inputs, such as seeds, organic fertilizers, fertilized eggs and small animals, for both commercial and humanitarian actors. Sea access also remains prohibited, limiting people’s ability to produce food, earn an income and rebuild their lives. FAO, UNICEF, and WFP stress that sustained peace, safety and security are essential to enable people to return to their farms, businesses and communities and to begin rebuilding their lives. The continued flow of lifesaving humanitarian assistance along all corridors through Jordan, Israel and Egypt, and via crossings in the north and south, is also essential to recovery in Gaza. The agencies are also calling for the immediate provision of shelter materials, fuel, cooking gas and agricultural inputs via the private sector, as well as the expansion of commercial access to enable markets to recover and stabilize. They stress that restoring water, sanitation and health systems is critical to ensuring recovery, otherwise disease outbreaks risk eroding nutrition gains. The agencies are appealing to the international community to scale up flexible and predictable funding for food and nutrition assistance, agricultural production, health care, water and sanitation services, and livelihood recovery programmes. With agencies’ current funding for Palestine fast running out, a failure to mobilize additional resources risks reversing hard-won gains and putting the lives of 2.1 million people in Gaza at further risk. “Food security in Gaza cannot recover unless local food production starts again and farmers, herders, fishers and other producers can rebuild their livelihoods,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. “Producers need access to farmland and the sea, and to seeds, tools, livestock supplies and other agricultural inputs, as well as technical support. Restrictions on agricultural imports and humanitarian supplies must be lifted. Without these essentials, food production and security will remain a pressing situation." “There is progress on food security in Gaza, but it is fragile and can easily be reversed,” said Carl Skau, WFP’s Acting Executive Director. “The overall humanitarian situation remains brutal: families lack water, sanitation and medicine. We need sustained access, funding and stability so people of Gaza can begin recovery.” “Acute malnutrition has fallen, but many children are still going hungry, and some children may never fully recover from prolonged lack of proper nutrition,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “This progress shows that when humanitarian access improves and aid gets through, children can be pulled back from the brink. But it rests on a supplementary feeding program that doesn’t reach all children, and where funding is running out. Without sustained access and funding, these gains could be lost within months." # # # Note to editors: Broadcast quality video footage can be accessed here. High resolution photos can be accessed here. Food insecurity and malnutrition classifications: The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is the global reference for measuring and classifying the severity of food insecurity and child malnutrition. It uses five phases to describe the severity of acute food insecurity and malnutrition: Phase Classification Description****Phase 1 None/MinimalHouseholds are able to meet essential food and non-food needs without engaging in atypical or unsustainable strategies to access food and income.Phase 2****StressedHouseholds have minimally adequate food consumption and can meet essential non-food expenditures without engaging in stress-coping strategies.Phase 3****CrisisHouseholds either have food consumption gaps reflected by above-usual acute malnutrition or are marginally able to meet minimum food needs only by depleting essential livelihood assets or using crisis-coping strategies.Phase 4****EmergencyHouseholds either have large food consumption gaps reflected in high acute malnutrition and excess mortality or are able to mitigate large food consumption gaps only by employing emergency livelihood strategies and liquidating assets.Phase 5****CatastropheHouseholds have an extreme lack of food and/or are unable to meet other basic needs even after fully employing coping strategies. Starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident. Catastrophe refers to populations or households in, or projected to reach, this level of food insecurity.Phase 5****Famine For a Famine classification, an area must have extreme critical levels of malnutrition and mortality. **IPC AMN PhaseClassificationMalnutrition PrevalenceDescriptionPhase 1Acceptable<5%**Acute malnutrition is at relatively low levels and not considered a major public health concern. Most children have adequate nutritional status. **Phase 2Alert5.0-9.9%**Acute malnutrition is above normal levels and warrants close monitoring and preventive action to stop deterioration. **Phase 3Serious10.0-14.9%**Acute malnutrition has reached a serious public health level. Significant numbers of children are malnourished and require expanded nutrition interventions. **Phase 4Critical15.0-29.9%**Acute malnutrition is at critically high levels. Child illness and mortality risks are elevated, requiring urgent, large-scale nutrition and food security responses. **Phase 5Extremely Critical≥30%**Acute malnutrition is at an extremely critical level, with exceptionally high risks to children's health and survival. Immediate, comprehensive action is required. For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org): Claire Nevill, WFP/ Jerusalem, Mob +972 0547985043 Julian Miglierini, WFP/ Rome, Mob. +39 348 2316793 Martin Rentsch, WFP/Berlin, Mob +49 160 99 26 17 30 Shaza Moghraby, WFP/New York, Mob. + 1 929 289 9867 Rene McGuffin, WFP/ Washington Mob. +1 771 245 4268 FAO contact: Irina Utkina | (+39) 06 570 52542 | irina.utkina@fao.org UNICEF contact: Joe English | UNICEF New York | +1 917 893 0692 | jenglish@unicef.org