On the pink walls of Nasser hospital’s child malnutrition ward, cartoon drawings show children running, smiling, and playing with flowers and balloons.

Beneath the pictures, a handful of Gazan mothers watch over their babies who lie still and largely silent, mostly too exhausted by severe hunger to cry.

The quiet is common in places treating the most acutely malnourished, doctors told Reuters, a sign of bodies shutting down.

Over the last week, Reuters journalists spent five days in Nasser Medical Complex, one of only four centers left in Gaza able to treat the most dangerously hungry children. While Reuters was there, 53 cases of acutely malnourished children were admitted, according to the head of the ward.

Gaza's food stocks have been running out since Israel, at war with Palestinian militant group Hamas since October 2023, cut off all supplies to the territory in March. That blockade was lifted in May but with restrictions that Israel says are needed to prevent aid being diverted to militant groups.

In response to a request for comment, COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said Israel does not restrict aid trucks entering Gaza, but that international organizations face challenges collecting aid inside Gaza.

As food stocks ran out, the situation escalated in June and July, with the World Health Organization warning of mass starvation and images of emaciated children shocking the world. The Gaza Health Ministry says 154 people, including 89 children, have died of malnutrition, most in recent weeks. A global hunger monitor said on Tuesday (July 29) that a famine scenario is unfolding.

Israel says it has no aim to starve Gaza. This week it announced steps to allow more aid in, including pausing fighting in some locations, air dropping food and offering more secure routes.

The United Nations said the scale of what is needed is vast in order to stave off famine and avert a health crisis.

"We need milk for babies. We need medical supplies. We need some food, special food for nutritional department," said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, head of the paediatric and maternity department in Nasser Medical Complex. "We need everything for the hospitals."

Israeli officials say many of those who died while malnourished in Gaza were suffering from pre-existing illnesses. Famine experts say this is typical in the early stages of a hunger crisis.

Farra said his hospital was now dealing with malnourished children with no previous health problems, like baby Wateen Abu Amounah, born healthy nearly three months ago and now weighing 100 grams less than she weighed at birth.

"During the past three months she did not gain one gram. On the contrary the child’s weight decreased," the doctor said.

"There is total loss of muscles. It's only skin on top of bones, which is an indication that the child has entered a severe malnutrition phase," said Farra. "Even the face of the child: she has lost fat tissues from her cheeks."

The baby's mother, Yasmin Abu Sultan, gestures at the child's limbs, her arms about as wide as her mother's thumb.

Zeina Radwan, mother of 10-month-old Maria Suhaib Radwan, has not been able to find milk or enough food for her baby, and cannot breastfeed as she herself is underfed, surviving on one meal a day.

"She is always lethargic, lying down, like this… she doesn’t respond to anything," she said.

The youngest babies in particular need special therapeutic formulas made with clean water, and supplies are running low, Farra and the WHO told Reuters.

"All the key supplies for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, including medical complications, are really running out," said Marina Adrianopoli, WHO nutrition lead for the Gaza response. "It's really a critical situation.”

The treatment centres are also operating beyond capacity, she said. In the first two weeks of July, more than 5,000 children under five received outpatient treatment for malnutrition, with 18% suffering from the severest form. That was a surge from 6,500 in the whole of June, already the highest of the war and almost certainly an underestimate, said the WHO.

Seventy-three children with malnutrition and complications were hospitalized in July, up from 39 in June. Hospital places are scarce.

Baby Wateen's mother said she tried to get the girl admitted last month, but the centre was full. After ten days with no milk available and barely a meal a day for the rest of the family, she returned last week because her daughter’s condition was deteriorating.

Like several of the infants at Nasser, Wateen also has a recurring fever and diarrhoea, illnesses that malnourished children are more vulnerable to, and which make their condition more dangerous.

"If she stays like this, I'm going to lose her," her mother said.

Wateen remains in hospital getting treatment, where her mother encourages her to take tiny sips from a bottle of formula milk. A side-effect of severe malnutrition is, counter-intuitively, loss of appetite, doctors told Reuters. Yasmin herself lives on the one meal a day provided by the hospital.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JULY 29, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT MALNUTRITION WARD AT NASSER HOSPITAL

2. MEDIC PREPARING IV FLUID FOR MALNOURISHED CHILD

3. IV FLUID

4. VARIOUS OF MEDIC ADMINISTERING IV FLUID TO CHILD

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JULY 25, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

5. VARIOUS OF MOTHER OF INFANT WATEEN ABU AMOUNAH, YASMIN ABU SULTAN, CARRYING BABY AND ENTERING ROOM / ABU SULTAN PUTTING INFANT ON BED AND TAKING OFF HER CLOTHES

6. ABU SULTAN HELPING DOCTOR TO PUT INFANT ON SCALE

7. DOCTOR TAKING MEASURES OF MALNOURISHED INFANT WATEEN WHILE SHE IS ON SCALE

8. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF INFANT WATEEN ABU AMOUNAH, YASMIN ABU SULTAN, SAYING: (SOUNDBITE ENDS ON ABU SULTAN SHOWING WATEEN'S DIAPERS)

“She was cut off milk for ten days, look what happened to her. I went many places and no one helped, the last moment I came to the hospital, following crying and humiliation, and they kept me here. You can see her situation, I’m not lying, look at her. Even the diapers we are using are made of cloth. The girl is very thin.”

9. VARIOUS OF ABU SULTAN SHOWING FRAIL BODY OF WATEEN

10. ABU SULTAN PUTTING WATEEN'S CLOTHES BACK ON

11. WATEEN'S FRAIL BODY AS SHE WEARS CLOTH-MADE DIAPERS

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF INFANT WATEEN ABU AMOUNAH, YASMIN ABU SULTAN, SAYING:

“I call on them (referring to international and local health organisations) to help me get milk for her, that's it, that’s all I ask for. Milk and diapers, that's what I ask for to help my daughter. If she stays like this, I’m going to lose her.”

13. ABU SULTAN PLAYING WITH WATEEN

14. ABU SULTAN FEEDING WATEEN FORMULA

15. WATEEN'S HAND

16. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF INFANT WATEEN ABU AMOUNAH, YASMIN ABU SULTAN, SAYING:

“I’m currently surviving on the meal provided by the hospital, I cannot afford to buy anything. I have (no money) to buy anything... There is no breakfast here, just lunch.”

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JULY 26, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

17. VARIOUS OF GRANDMOTHER OF WATEEN FEEDING HER FORMULA

SCALEA, ITALY (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) WHO TECHNICAL ADVISOR ON UNDERNUTRITION, MARINA ADRIANOPOLI, SAYING:

"All the key supplies for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, including medical complications, are really running out."

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JULY 29, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

19. VARIOUS OF HEAD OF PAEDIATRIC AND MATERNITY DEPARTMENT IN NASSER MEDICAL COMPLEX, AHMED AL-FARRA, WALKING AND TALKING WITH DOCTORS AND PEOPLE, AS WELL AS CHECKING CHILD

20. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF THE PAEDIATRIC AND MATERNITY DEPARTMENT IN NASSER MEDICAL COMPLEX, AHMED AL-FARRA, SAYING:

“We are facing cases of malnutrition - meaning the child does not suffer from any other illnesses. One of the examples of this is the child, Wateen Abu Amounah, who is almost three-months-old. At birth she weighed 2 kilos and 700 grams, today, we are speaking at around 80 or 90 days of the child’s age and she weighs 2 kilos and 600 grams, or 2 kilos and 500 grams. During the past three months, she did not gain one gram. On the contrary the child’s weight decreased.”

21. VARIOUS OF ABU SULTAN CARRYING WATEEN AND PUTTING HER ON HOSPITAL BED

22. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF THE PAEDIATRIC AND MATERNITY DEPARTMENT IN NASSER MEDICAL COMPLEX, AHMED AL-FARRA, SAYING: (SOUNDBITE STARTS ON FARRA SHOWING WATEEN'S BODY)

“There is total loss of muscles. It's only skin on top of bones, which is an indication that the child has entered a severe malnutrition phase, or what we call severe acute malnutrition. If you notice, even the face of the child: she has lost fat tissues from her cheeks.”

23. MOTHER AT HOSPITAL ROOM

SCALEA, ITALY (JULY 28, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) WHO TECHNICAL ADVISOR ON UNDERNUTRITION, MARINA ADRIANOPOLI, SAYING:

"We are seeing deterioration of health indicators, so all this combined, it is really going to be a critical situation."

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JULY 26, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

19. DOCTOR WALKING AT HOSPITAL CORRIDOR AND ENTERING ROOM

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JULY 24, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

20. VARIOUS OF MOTHER OF 10-MONTH OLD MARIA RADWAN, ZEINA RADWAN, WITH MALNOURISHED BABY

21. MARIA ON HOSPITAL BED DRINKING FORMULA

22. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF 10-MONTH OLD MARIA RADWAN, ZEINA RADWAN, SAYING: (SOUNDBITE CONTINUES OVER MARIA ON HOSPITAL BED)

“The girl is always lethargic, laying down, she doesn't move, she does not sit up or stand on her feet, she is always lethargic, laying down, like this. She doesn’t react to you, she doesn’t laugh, she doesn’t respond to anything. Her stomach is always bloated, you always find her stomach bloated, the girl’s level of malnutrition has reached a dangerous phase.”

23. RADWAN PUTTING MARIA'S CLOTHES ON

24. MARIA ON HOSPITAL BED / RADWAN FEEDING MARIA

25. MEAL

26. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF 10-MONTH OLD MARIA RADWAN, ZEINA RADWAN, SAYING:

“There is no food available, no milk available. I, myself, am unable to provide her with breastmilk, or breastfeed her, because I also have severe malnutrition, I also suffer from severe malnutrition. One meal a day is all I eat. We spent almost an entire month without eating bread at home. There was no food available at home for me or my children.”

27. VARIOUS OF RADWAN SOOTHING CRYING BABY / MARIA DRINKING FORMULA

28. MOTHERS NEAR CHILDREN AT WARD

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JULY 26, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

29. FARRA SPEAKING TO WOMAN AT HOSPITAL

30. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF THE PAEDIATRIC AND MATERNITY DEPARTMENT IN NASSER MEDICAL COMPLEX, AHMED AL-FARRA, SAYING:

“We need milk for babies. We need medical supplies. We need some food, special food for nutritional department. We need everything for the hospitals. And we need a full program of diet that is equal or effective to pass from this malnutrition or starvation.”

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JULY 29, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

31. DOCTORS IN HOSPITAL CORRIDOR

32. VARIOUS OF MOTHER CARRYING BABY, GETTING BABY MEASURED

33. EXTERIOR OF NASSER HOSPITAL (NIGHT SHOT)