FAMINE HAS BEEN CONFIRMED IN GAZA 

This is the most devastating stage of hunger and it is now reality for children.
Over 500,000 people are trapped in famine, facing widespread starvation. And 320,000 children under five are at risk.

Families have nothing left to feed their little ones. Children are wasting away, their lives hanging by a thread. Without immediate action, thousands more children are at risk of dying from hunger on a catastrophic scale.

UNICEF is on the ground, ready to deliver life-saving food, clean water and medical care – but we cannot do it without your help. 

Children in Gaza need urgent help to survive.

PLEASE DONATE NOW TO SEND LIFE-SAVING AID

UNICEF is responding right now. Help rush life-saving food to children today.

Famine has now been officially declared in Gaza. Children are not just at risk of starvation – many are already dying. They are weak, thirsty and suffering – their lives hanging by a thread. 

Aid corridors remain open for UN agencies. We must rush as much emergency, life-saving food and supplies into Gaza as quickly as possible to reach children before it is too late. 

Every single person in Gaza is hungry, and hundreds of thousands are now in catastrophic conditions. Children make up the vast majority of those who have died from starvation. 

2 year old Yazan is just skin and bone. He is emaciated and his body is growing weaker every day. His mother, Naima, says, “We have not had flour or any food assistance for two months.”

You can help save children by providing life-saving food and cash transfers.

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Thousands of children in Gaza just like Baraa are starving and on the brink of death – they need your help today.

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Scared and hungry children need help now

“I’m terrified I might lose her.” 

These are the words of Baraa’s mum, Randa, as she described just how desperate Baraa’s situation is. At 3 months old, Baraa weighs 3kg. Half of what she should. She is on the brink of death. Without help she may die of starvation. 

“I can no longer breastfeed because I hardly eat myself,” Randa said. “Her body is growing weaker day by day. I’m terrified that I might lose her,” she said. 

Baraa has four young siblings, who are also slowly starving to death. Randa tells us: “They cry out from hunger every morning.”

UNICEF is rushing as much aid across the border as we possibly can. Malnutrition rates have doubled and the needs are absolutely immense. We urgently need your help to reach as many starving children on the brink of death as possible.  

Please, while the aid corridors are open for UN agencies, give what you can. Children like Baraa have no option but to wait for life saving aid so please rush your gift to UNICEF today. You can help save the life of a child in Gaza. 

 

Your support is crucial

Maryam is emaciated from hunger. Every one of her tiny ribs juts out from under her skin. Her legs are so tiny and her body so weak that she can no longer walk. “I have to carry her. She starts crying and asks me, ‘Why can’t I walk? What’s wrong with me?’” her mother, Madlala, told us. 

 “Maryam has been suffering from malnutrition for a year and a half, and I’ve been suffering along with her. There has been no improvement at all.”

Maryam and thousands of children just like her need immediate help today if they are to survive. 

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For months, children have been starved, attacked, and deprived of water. On average, more than 24 children have died every day in Gaza since the conflict began in 2023.   

  • So far in July, over 5,000 children have been treated for acute malnutrition, 18% of them with the most life-threatening form.  
  • 93% of people lack access to clean drinking water. Malnourished children are contracting diseases from drinking water contaminated with faeces. Their bodies are simply not strong enough to fight off the illnesses.  

Children like Maryam and Baraa urgently need life-saving therapeutic food to survive. Aid corridors are open for UN agencies today, but we don’t know for how long. UNICEF is rushing as many trucks as we can across the border, but we urgently need more supplies. And as children rely on UNICEF to survive, we rely on you. 

Please will you give a gift today to provide a child in Gaza with therapeutic food? We don’t know how long we have to get humanitarian aid to children in Gaza. We must do everything we can to reach as many children as possible. 

Maryam is so malnourished her hair is falling out, and she has had seizures. She and thousands of other children need help now.
One-year old-Asmaa is painfully malnourished, but he has started to improve thanks to nutrition supplements provided in May by people like you.

 

Thanks to people like you, UNICEF is on the ground in Gaza now providing life saving essential food and supplies – like these delivered in May – and helping children escape the nightmare of malnutrition.

How you can make a difference in Gaza right now

UNICEF is on the ground in Gaza providing life-saving support to children in urgent need.  

  • €100 can provide 2 weeks of emergency therapeutic food for 10 children.
  • €150 can provide 2 weeks of emergency therapeutic food for 15 children.
  • €250 can provide 2 weeks of emergency therapeutic food for 18 children and an emergency cash transfer for families battling starvation.

DONATE NOW

Other Ways to Donate

You can make a donation by phone by calling 01 878 3000, from Monday to Friday between 9:00 – 5:30pm.

You can send your donation by post to

Freepost; UNICEF Ireland, 33 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin D01 R283.

In the unlikely event that the funds raised exceed UNICEF’s funding requirements for this appeal, your donation will be directed to where the need is greatest.

Help protect children