{"id":18104,"date":"2026-08-18T20:17:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/?p=18104"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:17:41","slug":"state-department-says-unicef-report-refutes-gaza-starvation-allegations-against-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/18\/state-department-says-unicef-report-refutes-gaza-starvation-allegations-against-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"State Department Says UNICEF Report Refutes Gaza Starvation Allegations Against Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. State Department says new data from a UNICEF-led nutrition survey in Gaza refutes assertions that Israel engaged in a policy of deliberate civilian starvation during the military conflict in the enclave.<\/p>\n

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that “UNICEF\u2019s latest findings demonstrate another example that completely shatters the countless false allegations against Israel of deliberate starvation of civilians in Gaza. There are U.N. entities, media outlets and NGOs that should retract and correct their politicized and baseless attacks on Israel \u2013 which has provided an unprecedented over 2 million tons of food into Gaza since the ceasefire.”<\/p>\n

The State Department added that joint U.S. and Israeli coordination facilitated humanitarian assistance while implementing security safeguards to prevent Hamas from looting or diverting food aid shipments across the territory.<\/p>\n

The UNICEF-led National Nutrition Cluster report from last month was able to reach 1,335 children under age 5 throughout 83% of the Gaza Strip to assess its risk of malnutrition. Malnutrition rates were determined by weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ) and mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC). Using WHZ figures, rates ranged from 0.2% in Khan Younis and Rafah to 0.8% in Gaza City. MUAC measurements found malnutrition rates ranging from 1.5% in Gaza City to 1.9% in Deir Al-Balah.<\/p>\n

About 17% of the population could not be surveyed due to security and operational constraints.<\/p>\n

Palestinians in Gaza carry supplies dropped by Jordan and UAE air forces on July 27. (TPS-IL)<\/p>\n

The documented acute malnutrition levels fall well below the World Health Organization’s 15% threshold used to signal a humanitarian malnutrition crisis. Figures published by the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) show acute malnutrition rates in Gaza ranging around 1.3%, matching levels recorded in Lebanon and Turkey while remaining lower than neighboring states such as Jordan at 2.3%, Egypt at 3.3%, Syria at 12.2%, and Sudan at 17.7%.<\/p>\n

Prof. Aron Troen, director of the Nutrition and Brain Health Laboratory at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, described the survey results as a positive development, noting that current nutritional indicators in Gaza are currently better than those recorded in several neighboring Arab nations.<\/p>\n

Troen said that objective evaluations of humanitarian conditions require acknowledging improvements as readily as deficiencies, cautioning that accusations of famine and genocide have frequently been deployed to gain political leverage rather than address ground reality.<\/p>\n

\"Michigan<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), joined by Palestinian rights activists, speaks at a press conference on food aid to Gaza, outside the U.S. Capitol on July 24, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Tlaib spoke on the recent United Nation’s report that noted over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid since late May, hundreds of them at sites managed by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. (Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The survey findings stand in contrast to warnings issued in August 2025 by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which declared that famine was present in Gaza Governorate. At that time, the IPC projected that 132,000 children under age 5 would suffer acute malnutrition through June 2026, including 41,000 severe cases.<\/p>\n

\"Palestinians<\/p>\n

Palestinians carry aid supplies that entered Gaza on trucks through Israel, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip on July 29, 2025. (Ebrahim Hajjaj\/Reuters)<\/p>\n

Ahead of releasing a full report on current conditions, the IPC has assessed that the Gaza Strip will remain in Phase 2, designated as the “alert” stage for malnutrition, through December 2026. The agency estimates that 74,200 children aged 6 to 59 months will require treatment for acute malnutrition through April 2027, including more than 11,400 severe cases.<\/p>\n

UNICEF\u2019s recent report documented very few confirmed nutrition-related deaths among children receiving clinical treatment inside Gaza.<\/p>\n

\"Headquarters<\/p>\n

Headquarters of the Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia of UNICEF, a U.N. agency created in 1946 to improve children’s condition worldwide. (iStock)<\/p>\n

Kurtis Cooper, Chief of Global Media at UNICEF, said the mid-2026 survey evaluates conditions following a ceasefire and a significant scale-up in humanitarian aid deliveries. Cooper explained that severe access restrictions during mid-2025 had temporarily halted blanket supplementary feeding programs, causing malnutrition treatment admissions to peak at nearly 17,000 children in August 2025 before declining to approximately 3,100 by May 2026.<\/p>\n

By comparison, UNICEF reported that in Sudan, nearly 100,000 children were admitted for severe acute malnutrition treatment between January and March alone, with an estimated 825,000 children under age 5 facing severe acute malnutrition in that country during 2026.<\/p>\n

\"IDF<\/p>\n

IDF forces are seen operating in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)<\/p>\n

Andrew Fox, a senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said the physical data indicates that localized hunger in Gaza stemmed from internal aid distribution obstacles rather than intentional starvation. Fox called on international agencies to issue public corrections regarding earlier famine declarations that fueled global diplomatic attacks against Israel.<\/p>\n

\n

Read also:<\/h3>\n