AMMAN, 24 August 2026 – A new population-based nutrition survey conducted in accessible areas of the Gaza Strip shows a complex nutritional picture: relatively low acute malnutrition among children in the accessible population, concerning rates of chronic malnutrition (stunting), maternal malnutrition, very poor dietary quality, suboptimal infant and young child feeding practices, and a substantial burden of childhood illness. Acute malnutrition among children under five was low. Chronic malnutrition, or stunting – an indicator of impaired linear growth that reflects cumulative nutritional and health conditions over time – affected 12.2 per cent of children under five. Overweight affected 4.0 per cent. The coexistence of stunting, wasting, and overweight in the same population points to poor dietary quality rather than food quantity alone: 73.0 per cent of children aged 6–23 months had consumed unhealthy foods in the previous day, and only 22.4 per cent received a minimum acceptable diet. Some 37.1 per cent of children under five had experienced diarrhoea during the two weeks preceding the survey. Maternal malnutrition was also documented among girls and women aged 15–49. The survey was conducted between 31 May and 15 June 2026, following a substantial expansion of humanitarian assistance after the October 2025 ceasefire. In the months before the ceasefire, including August 2025, when the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed Famine in Gaza, severe access constraints and supply disruptions meant that blanket supplementary feeding – a principal means of preventing acute malnutrition – had largely ceased across Gaza. Some programmes to detect and treat malnutrition continued to operate, but the supplies and access needed to prevent children becoming malnourished in the first place were not reaching them. Following the ceasefire, the resumption of aid and commercial traffic have meant that while admissions for treatment of acute malnutrition pea
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