Gaza parents struggle to feed children as prices rise, aid is cut and malnutrition fears grow

In a tent in western Gaza City, 30-year-old Huda Abu Leila this week had to serve her five daughters only tea and bread for breakfast. It was not how she wanted to feed them, but after Israel restricted the entry of goods into Gaza earlier this month, putting enough food on the table became harder again.

Huda's five daughters are aged between 18 months and 10 years. Her husband was injured during the war and can no longer work, while she earns a little money by baking bread for other people. On that small income, providing a balanced and nutritious diet has become ever harder.

“We were affected immediately. We couldn't find eggs or milk, and we don't have the money to stock up on food,” she said. Some days the family eats canned beans with duqqa, a local spice blend, or za'atar; on days when food is scarcer, they dip bread in tea.

Israel halted commercial shipments into Gaza on October 14, disrupting supplies of food and other essential goods. The suspension came amid a dispute over a demand for merchants to pay 10,000 shekels ($3,225) per truck to bring goods into the enclave.

On October 19, Israel announced that commercial shipments would gradually resume. COGAT, the Israeli military body coordinating aid and commercial access, said merchants had reported that Hamas had withdrawn the demand. Hamas described the payment as a voluntary contribution to a fund supporting people affected by the war.

As commercial supplies were disrupted, humanitarian assistance was also reduced. On October 19, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that funding shortages had forced it to cut food assistance in Gaza.

WFP reduced the number of people it supports from 1.6 million in September to 1.1 million in October. It has also halved rations, with families receiving one food parcel instead of two alongside a smaller bag of wheat flour, and daily hot meals have fallen from 250,000 to 150,000.

WFP said about 1.4 million people in Gaza, approximately two-thirds of the population, were facing acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse. Famine was declared in Gaza City in August 2025; the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said in December that year that it had receded after the ceasefire began two months earlier.

For Huda, the crisis means she can no longer afford many foods her daughters need. Eggs have become too expensive — a shopkeeper recently quoted 60 shekels ($19.40) for a tray — and she said some shops appeared to be holding back stock.

Fresh vegetables have also become difficult to afford. She goes to market about once a week and buys only small quantities. Onions cost about 10 shekels per kilogramme, while tomatoes cost between 10 and 15 shekels per kilogramme. The vast majority of Gaza's population is unemployed as a result of the war and restrictions on rebuilding.

The lack of food is starting to affect Huda's children, who she says struggle to concentrate and often become dizzy and exhausted. Her eldest daughter Salma's health has become so poor she is receiving follow-up care at al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza, where a doctor advised Huda to improve her daughter's diet.

Raeda Soboh, 40, described a similar struggle feeding her nine-member family. Displaced from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza and now living in Gaza City, she said her family had long depended on community kitchens, known locally as tekkiya, even before the latest disruption.

“When a kitchen has food, we eat from it,” she said. Her children usually have tea for breakfast and a community-kitchen meal for lunch; in the evening they sometimes eat falafel, rice, lentils or pasta. But milk, meat, eggs and cheese have been absent from their diet for about eight months, and she last bought vegetables about a month ago.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 2,800 children were admitted for malnutrition treatment in September, including more than 360 with severe acute malnutrition. About 3,000 children aged six months to five years continued to be admitted each month, OCHA said in a report published on October 19.

Dr Mohamed B Alraee, a paediatrician and nutrition specialist in Gaza City, warned prolonged restrictions could further increase child malnutrition. Some children suffer severe malnutrition with swelling in the legs, linked to serious protein deficiency, he said. “Even when the crossings were open and food was entering, we were still seeing these cases. Children do not recover from malnutrition in a month or two. Some cases need three to six months to recover,” he said. “If the situation continues like this, we expect to see more cases of malnutrition.”

Raeda said her children have become weak and easily exhausted, and the family has no reliable income. The area where they live is not recognised as an official camp, leaving them without the aid vouchers and hygiene supplies some other camps receive. “I hope someone will help us and stand with us in these difficult circumstances,” she said. “I hope the war ends, the situation improves and the crossings open, so prices can come down.” Whether the gradual resumption of commercial shipments will quickly ease prices and aid pressure remains uncertain.