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[NOT FOR FUNDRAISING USE. JANA, THE CHILD FEATURED IN THIS VIDEO, DIED ON 17 SEPTEMBER 2025].

Nesma Ayed sits at her 9 year old daugher Jana's bedside at the Friends of the Patient Society Hospital in Gaza City in the Gaza Strip on Monday 25 August 2025.

On 25 August 2025, in Gaza City, UNICEF supported the screening and treatment of children with acute malnutrition, in Friends of the Patient Society Hospital. Children suffering from moderate and severe acute malnutrition received Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). Hospitals, already overwhelmed with trauma cases, are struggling to cope. Children like Jana highlight the compounded crisis: Jana’s survival is threatened by hunger and lack of treatment. Her sister, Jouri, died only weeks ago from acute malnutrition — a devastating reminder that children’s lives in Gaza are put at risk, not just by airstrikes, but also by the living conditions. In the Gaza Strip, the malnutrition crisis has reached catastrophic levels. The entire child population under five — over 320,000 children — is at risk of acute malnutrition. In July alone, 13,000 children were identified as acutely malnourished, the highest monthly figure ever recorded, representing more than a 500 per cent increase since the start of the year.