Gaza: UN Child Rights Committee Condemns Mass Starvation Of Children Amid Aid Blockades

GENEVA (21 May 2025) - The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child condemned the continued obstruction of humanitarian aid to Gaza, urging the international community to pressure Israel to allow immediate and sustained access for essential food and medical supplies.

“More than eleven weeks after the obstruction of humanitarian access, the food security crisis is deteriorating rapidly to the point that more than 50 children have died from hunger and many others are on the verge of death. If the blockade continues, more children will die and up to 71,000 children under five could suffer from acute malnutrition over the next year,” the Committee said, drawing on numbers from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“The right to food is a fundamental human right, intrinsically linked to the right to life, and as such, it is non-derogable under international law,” the Committee stated.

It strongly condemned Israel's ongoing military actions in Gaza, which are killing and maiming women and children, including reportedly more than 100 children killed just last week, before accounting for the casualties from the latest strikes. These attacks are occurring on a massive daily scale and are pushing the humanitarian situation to a critical point.

“There is no justification for actions which clearly defy international humanitarian law as well as international human rights law, including the Conventions on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” the Committee said.

It reaffirmed the importance of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024, along with its Orders issued on 26 January and 24 May 2024 in the case South Africa v. Israelconcerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip.

In addition, recalling its country review findings on Israel adopted September last year, the Committee urged the State party to take immediate action to guarantee the right to life, survival, and development of all Palestinian children, stop the killing and injuring of children in Gaza, and to allow safe and unrestricted humanitarian access throughout the Gaza Strip.

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