Thousands of Gaza children are malnourished under Israel's food blockade, aid groups say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Aid groups are raising new alarm over Israel’s blockade of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where it has barred entry of all food and other goods for more than six weeks. Thousands of children have become malnourished, and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, the United Nations says.

The warning came as Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday killed at least 27 people, including at least six women and 15 children.

The humanitarian aid system in Gaza “is facing total collapse,” the heads of 12 independent aid organizations warned in a joint statement. They said many groups have shut down operations because Israel's resumed bombardment the past month has made it too dangerous.

No food, fuel, medicine or any other supplies have entered Gaza since Israel imposed its blockade on March 2. It renewed its bombardment on March 18, breaking a ceasefire, and seized large parts of the territory, saying it aims to push Hamas to release more hostages. Hundreds have been killed, and more than 400,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee their shelters in the latest of multiple displacements.

A strike in the southern city of Khan Younis killed a family of 10, including five children, four women and a man, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Strikes in northern Gaza killed two other couples with nine children, according to the Indonesian Hospital.

A later strike hit a school sheltering displaced people in the northern district of Jabaliya, killing three people and a child. The blast left walls in rubble and classrooms strewn with debris, charred mattresses and scattered cans of food.

The Israeli military strikes homes, shelters and public areas daily, saying it is targeting Hamas militants, and blames militants for civilian deaths because they operate there. It says it tries to limit civilian casualties. There was no immediate comment on the latest strikes.

The U.N. humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said almost all of Gaza’s more than 2 million people now rely on charity kitchens, which can prepare only 1 million meals a day. The meals mainly consist of rice or pasta with no fresh vegetables or meat.

Other food distribution programs have shut down for lack of supplies, and the U.N. and other aid groups have been sending their remaining stocks to the charity kitchens.

In markets — the only other place to find food in Gaza — prices are spiraling and shortages are widespread, with fresh foods nearly non-existent. As a result, humanitarian aid is the primary food source for 80% of the population, the World Food Program said in its monthly report for April.

“The Gaza Strip is now likely facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the 18 months" since the war began, OCHA said.

“Kids are eating less than a meal a day and struggling to find their next meal,” said Bushra Khalil, policy head at Oxfam. “Everyone is purely eating canned food. … Malnutrition and pockets of famine are definitely occurring in Gaza.”

Hani Almadhoun, co-founder of Gaza Soup Kitchen, said his kitchen has food for about three more weeks. Already, he said, up to one in five of those who come to his kitchen for food leave empty-handed.

Water is also growing scarce, with Palestinians standing in long lines to fill jerry cans from trucks. Omar Shatat, an official with a local water utility, said people are down to six or seven liters per day, well below the U.N. estimate for basic needs.

In March, more than 3,600 children were newly admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition, up from around 2,000 the month before, according to OCHA, which said "the rapid deterioration of the nutrition situation is already visible.”

Aid groups are also less able to treat malnourished children because of Israel's airstrikes and ground operations. Aid workers could only reach 22,300 children under 5 with nutrient supplements in March, down 70% from the month before. Only around 100 of the original 173 treatment sites still function, OCHA said.

"Humanitarians have been forced to watch people suffer and die while carrying the impossible burden of providing relief with depleted supplies, all while facing the same life-threatening conditions themselves,” said Amande Bazerolle, emergency coordinator in Gaza for Doctors Without Borders.

“This is not a humanitarian failure — it is a political choice, and a deliberate assault on a people’s ability to survive, carried out with impunity,” she said in a statement.

A survey of 47 aid groups found that 95% of them have reduced or entirely halted operations, mainly because bombardment made it too dangerous, according to the joint statement by the heads of humanitarian organizations, which included the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Save the Children, CARE and Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Israel has largely stopped coordinating with humanitarian groups over their movements in Gaza. That means aid workers have no assurance the military won’t strike them. COGAT, the military agency in charge of aid coordination, acknowledged stopping the system, which had been in place before the ceasefire.

Since mid-March, Israeli fire has hit the staff or facilities of at least 14 organizations, and around 60 aid workers have been killed, according to the statement. The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday one of its facilities was hit by an explosion the day before, the second time in three weeks the organization had been struck.

”When our staff and partners, our convoys, our offices, our warehouses are shelled, the message is loud and clear: Even lifesaving aid is no longer protected,” the 12 aid organization heads said. “This is unacceptable.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the blockade is one of the “central pressure tactics” against Hamas, which Israel accuses of siphoning off aid to maintain its rule. Aid workers deny there is significant diversion of aid, saying the U.N. closely monitors distribution. Rights groups have called it a “starvation tactic.”

Israel is demanding that Hamas release more hostages at the start of any new ceasefire and ultimately agree to disarm and leave the territory. Katz said that even afterward Israel will occupy large “security zones” inside Gaza.

Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas' negotiating delegation, said Thursday the group had rejected Israel's latest proposal along those lines. He reiterated Hamas' stance that it will return hostages only in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting truce, as called for in the now-defunct ceasefire agreement reached earlier this year.

Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Of the 59 hostages still in captivity in Gaza, Israel believes 35 are dead.

Israel's offensive has since killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its food production capabilities. The war has displaced around 90% of the population, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and bombed-out buildings.

Khaled and Keath reported from Cairo.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinians prepare for burial the bodies of several members of the al-Atal family, killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent in the Jabalia refugee camp, at the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The al-Atal family's tent is seen after it was struck overnight in an Israeli airstrike that killed several family members, in the Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza City, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians prepare for burial the bodies of several members of the al-Atal family, killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent in the Jabalia refugee camp, at the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025.(AP Photo/(AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians inspect the remains of a displacement tent hit by an Israeli airstrike overnight, killing 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians inspect the remains of a displacement tent hit by an Israeli airstrike overnight, killing 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians inspect the remains of a displacement tent hit by an Israeli airstrike overnight, killing 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians inspect the remains of a displacement tent hit by an Israeli airstrike overnight, killing 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners carry white sacks cover the bodies of members of the Abu Al-Rous family, killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their displacement tent overnight, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives Mourn over the bodies of 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their displacement tent overnight, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Relative of 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their displacement tent overnight, reacts during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives Mourn over the bodies of 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their displacement tent overnight, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives Mourn over the bodies of 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their displacement tent overnight, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners pray over the bodies of 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their displacement tent overnight, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners pray over the bodies of 10 members of the Abu Al-Rous family, killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their displacement tent overnight, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

President Donald Trump President Donald Trump wraps up a Mideast tour in the United Arab Emirates with a breakfast for business leaders and a visit to an interfaith place of worship named for the Abraham Accords he negotiated.

As part of the accords, the UAE and some other countries in the Middle East recognized Israel. Trump departs Abu Dhabi after his visit to the Abrahamic Family House .

During his visit to the region, violence flared in the West Bank, and Gaza. Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people Friday, adding to the more than 120 people who died in recent days.

Here's the latest:

“I think it’s time for us to just do it,” Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi.

Trump reiterated that he wasn’t surprised that Putin skipped a U.S. orchestrated meeting in Turkey between Ukrainian and Russian officials. Putin didn’t want to go because he’s not there, Trump said.

Trump added that a meeting with Putin would happen “as soon as we can set it up.”

“ I would actually leave here and go,” said Trump, who noted his daughter Tiffany just gave birth to her first child. “I do want to see my beautiful grandson.”

Trump says he’s had an “incredible” trip to the Middle East but that “now it’s time to go back home.” He added: “My daughter had a baby and I’m going to go home and see that baby.”

Tiffany Trump gave birth to boy.

“She’s doing great and the baby’s great.”

An Israeli official said Cabinet members are meeting Friday to assess the negotiations in Qatar and to decide on next steps. The official was not authorized to brief media on the meeting and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

At an event to highlight business partnerships between the UAE and US companies, Trump gave himself a big pat on the back.

“I’m just thinking we have a president of the United States doing the selling,” Trump said to business leaders as they walked him through a presentation on investments that are benefitting the American economy. “You think Biden would be doing it? I don’t think so. But I think its so important. I have to be a cheerleader for our country.”

President Donald Trump has arrived at a business forum being held at Qasr al-Watan, a ceremonial palace in Abu Dhabi.

Trump entered and listened to a presentation from Sultan al-Jaber, the head of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., as well as officials from Exxon Mobil Corp. and Occidental, two oil firms.

Al-Jaber then presented Trump a memento that included a drop of oil in it.

“This is the highest quality oil there is on the planet,” Trump told those watching.

He then drew laughter when he said: “And they only gave me a drop -- so I’m not thrilled.”

Hostage families called on their government Friday to work with President Trump to release those still held in Gaza.

A statement from the hostages forum, which supports the families said people woke up with “heavy hearts” amid reports of increased attacks across Gaza at the end of Trump’s visit to the Middle East. There were widespread attacks in northern Gaza Friday as Trump was finishing his visit to Gulf States but not Israel.

Israel says about 23 of the hostages are said to be alive.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of destroying the Hamas militant group, which governs Gaza.

The hostage families called on Netanyahu to “join hands” with Trump’s efforts to release the hostages.

“Missing this historic opportunity for a deal to bring the hostages home would be a resounding failure that will be remembered in infamy forever.

Trump is wrapping up his four-day visit to the Middle East, but he’s keeping a close eye on what’s going on back in Washington.

Before heading out Friday morning to the Qasr Al Watan presidential for the final engagements of his trip, the president took to his Truth Social platform to hammer “Radical Left Sleazebags” after Supreme Court justices on Thursday heard more than two hours of arguments debating how the lower courts should handle Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship.

“I hope the Supreme Court doesn’t fall for the games they play,” Trump added. “The people are with us in bigger numbers than ever before.”

President Donald Trump is kicking off the final day of his Middle East trip with a meeting of U.S. and UAE business executives alongside UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Energy, health care, aviation, entertainment and other business leaders will be in attendance to highlight ties between the two countries -- a central focus of Trump’s trip to the region. Trump will then tour the Abrahamic Family House, a complex that houses a church, mosque and synagogue and is a symbol of interfaith tolerance. Trump has encouraged other countries in the region to join the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel, as the UAE did in 2020. The president will then depart back to Washington.

Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza on Friday morning, as U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up his Middle East visit.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, where they were brought. Survivors said many people were still under the rubble.

The widespread attacks across northern Gaza come as Trump finishes his visit to Gulf states but not Israel.

There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.

President Donald Trump will make several stops before taking off on Air Force One to end his Mideast trip on Friday.

He’ll attend a business summit in the morning in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Trump later will visit the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. It is home to a mosque, a church and a synagogue. The UAE built it after diplomatically recognizing Israel in an agreement known as the Abraham Accords, as Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all known as the Abrahamic faiths.

Etihad Airways announced Friday it would purchase 28 wide-body Boeing aircraft during a visit by President Donald Trump to the United Arab Emirates.

Etihad is the government-owned airline of Abu Dhabi that also flies East-West routes like Emirates, the long-haul carrier in neighboring Dubai.

Etihad said in a statement that the sale included “a mix of Boeing 787 and 777X aircraft, powered by GE engines and supported by a services package.”

Boeing did not immediately acknowledge the deal.

Trump was due to address a business conference in Abu Dhabi on Friday, the last day of his Mideast trip that’s also taken him to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which booked a major Boeing order for its long-haul carrier, Qatar Airways.

Tia Goldenberg contributed from Tel Aviv

President Donald Trump and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan talk at Qasr Al Watan, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrive at Qasr Al Watan, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump and Sheikh Khaled Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, right, tour the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)