A July 22 UNICEF-led nutrition survey found acute child malnutrition in Gaza at 0.5%, saying wasting was low across all areas and showed no population-wide acute malnutrition.
The presentation, titled “Gaza Nutrition SMART Survey Result,” was described as the most comprehensive analysis since the war began nearly three years ago, sharply diverging from famine warnings issued about a year earlier.
The data also put child stunting in Gaza at about 12%, well below the regional 26% rate cited in the latest joint malnutrition report from UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank.
The findings challenge a central narrative about Gaza’s hunger crisis by indicating severe food insecurity has not translated into widespread acute child malnutrition at the population level.