Gaza children face dire starvation risk, but one UN leader’s mistaken timeline caused confusion

Following Israel's 11-week blockade of aid into Gaza, aid organizations and governments began sounding the alarm that food supplies were running out. 

Urging that more aid be allowed in, United Nations Under-Secretary-General Tom Fletcher told BBC Radio on May 20, "There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them," and he said aid trucks included baby food. 

The figure was quickly shared on social media and by news outlets. That number of deaths would have represented about a quarter of all the reported deaths so far in the war. 

When a BBC reporter followed up with the UN, the organization pointed to a report that included an 11-month starvation risk timeframe.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, with large parts of the population facing acute or catastrophic food insecurity in the coming months, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, a group of international organizations that evaluate global food emergencies. 

Jens Laerke, a UN spokesperson, told the BBC that Fletcher was referencing an IPC report. 

"We are pointing to the imperative of getting supplies in to save an estimated 14,000 babies suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Gaza, as the IPC partnership has warned about," Laerke told the BBC. "We need to get the supplies in as soon as possible, ideally within the next 48 hours."

The IPC is the international community’s main tool for analyzing data and determining whether famine is happening or projected to occur in a country.

A May 12 IPC report said nearly 71,000 children under the age of 5 in Gaza are expected to experience acute malnourishment from April 2025 to March 2026. 

"Of these, 14,100 cases are expected to be severe," the report said. 

"In hunger crises, children are always amongst the most vulnerable," said Scott Paul, American director of peace and security for Oxfam, one of the humanitarian aid groups providing aid in Gaza. And for cases of severe acute malnutrition, "You can't just bake a loaf of bread." 

Treatment of severe malnutrition in children requires special pediatric therapeutic feeding administered by a medical provider. "Even if they survive, their development is permanently stunted, so they suffer long term effects," Paul said. 

Malnourishment weakens the body’s immune system and makes people, especially children, more vulnerable to illnesses, Paul said, and illness is more common with poor sanitation and a lack of clean water, as in Gaza. 

Several news organizations updated their headlines or issued corrections after the UN’s clarification on the timeline. 

"Catastrophic" food insecurity anticipated in Gaza 

Agencies in Gaza reported running out of food and supplies following Israel’s aid blockade. The blockade has drawn international criticism.

The amount of aid entering Gaza has fluctuated. 

For six weeks during the ceasefire at the start of 2025, "relatively high" levels of aid — about 600 trucks a day — were able to enter, said Paul. 

But right before the temporary ceasefire collapsed, Israel blocked all food and aid from entering the Gaza Strip from March 2 until May 19, when a small number of trucks were permitted to enter. Days later, The New York Times reported that very little of that aid had reached people in need. 

On April 25, the United Nations’ World Food Programme, one of the largest sources of aid, reported it had "depleted all its food stocks for families in Gaza." On May 7, the nonprofit World Central Kitchen reported it had run out of supplies to cook meals or bake bread. A spokesperson confirmed on May 22 that was still the case. 

An Oxfam spokesperson told PolitiFact May 22 that during the blockade, the organization’s warehouses were also empty. 

This lack of food was reflected in the IPC’s updated May 12 food insecurity assessment that said, "The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people (one in five) facing starvation" in the coming months.  

From the blockade’s start on March 2 to May 12, 57 children died from the effects of malnutrition, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is part of the Hamas-controlled government.

On May 23, The New York Times reported that another small number of aid trucks were beginning to arrive in the Gaza strip.