Gaza’s Children are Starving— The blockade and Its Toll on Innocent Lives

“No aid has been allowed into the Gaza Strip since March 2, 2025.”

This statement from UNICEF marks the start of what is now the longest and deadliest humanitarian aid blockade Gaza has seen since the start of the genocide. Children in the strip are facing shortages of food, clean water, shelter, and medical supplies. Nearly one million children are trapped in Gaza, with no way out and no help getting in. Humanitarian aid groups consider this blockade a man-made famine. 

This is not the first time Israel has initiated a total blockade in Gaza. Throughout the genocide, Israel has used basic human necessities such as food, water, and aid as a weapon of punishment. On October 9th of 2023, Israel placed a total blockade on Gaza which stopped all humanitarian aid from entering the strip. On October 6th of 2024, Israel blocks all food, water, and medical supplies from entering as they continue ethnically cleanse Northern Gaza. This takes us to March 2nd, where once again Israel stops all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. Due to this recent blockade, more than 60,000 children are at risk of complications due to lack of nutrition. 

According to the Palestinian NGO Network, we have entered phase 5 of the IPC Acute Food Insecurity scale. Phase 5 is classified as the highest level of Famine and occurs when an area reports deaths of two people or four children for every 10,000 each day due to starvation or to the interaction of malnutrition and disease. Children in Gaza are starving and dying due to malnutrition, but the world remains silent and global action remains absent. 

Each minute that passes is another life lost. The lives of children living in Gaza depend on international action, immediate aid, and an end to this genocide. Be a voice for those that do not have a voice and demand justice. Let us not be remembered as the generation that watched in silence.