Millions more children at risk from escalating conflict in the Middle East
- Children across the Middle East are facing the pain of hunger, separation for families, injury and death
- At least 59 kids will die every day due to starvation and related issues if conflict escalates.[1]
Millions more children’s lives and well-being are at risk if conflict in Middle East continues to accelerate, international aid agency, World Vision warns today. Children are deeply affected by the continuing violence across the Middle East. In West Bank and Gaza and millions more will be affected as they face hunger, psychosocial issues, and being out of school.
“All children matter deeply to God. The world must respond urgently to avoid the needless deaths of thousands of innocent civilians and allow a generation of children to start healing from this crisis. We hope and pray for de-escalation of this situation and an immediate end to the hostilities. Countless children’s futures hang in the balance now. Every day we wait is a day too long,” says Eleanor Monbiot, Regional Leader, Middle East Eastern Europe.
An intensified conflict would be catastrophic for the region’s children. Dozens of children in northern Gaza are already feared to be dying daily from hunger and tens of thousands of others are at immediate risk of starvation. In the wake of repeated famine warnings,[2] multiple government officials, including the United States, France, Jordan, Egypt, and the European Union and food security experts have all said that famine is already a reality in northern Gaza.[3] That means hundreds of children are likely to have already died of starvation and related health issues, and the lives of nearly 150,000 girls and boys in northern Gaza are at imminent risk.
Further escalation will push this perilous humanitarian crisis to dramatic new levels. An entire generation is at stake if aid organisations are not able to deliver the aid needed to stem the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank. World Vision calls on all parties to step away from escalation and find a path to an immediate and lasting peace for the sake of the children.
“It is heart-breaking to see that famine has already started in the Middle East. Providing children with the food and medicine they need is the most sacred duty of the international community. It is the only way we will bring back some light into this terrible darkness,” Eleanor Monbiot adds.
“Immediate action will save the lives of thousands of children,” says Mary Njeri, World Vision’s Global Hunger Response Director. “But just surviving is not enough. The girls and boys who do live will still suffer from the long-term, life-altering physical and mental effects of hunger and malnutrition. Enduring extreme food deprivation has an impact on all aspects of their lives. Their ability to live up to their God-given potential will be limited and their communities and countries will be denied the contributions they would make.”
ENDS
Notes to editor:
World Vision delivers critical humanitarian assistance to vulnerable children and their families in the West Bank and across the region, including lifesaving in-kind food and cash and voucher assistance; access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene needs; psychosocial support to affected children and their families; and resilience-building activities.
Through World Vision’s Global Hunger Response and ENOUGH campaign, the organisation is responding to the immediate needs of the most vulnerable girls, boys, and their families who are experiencing acute hunger in 28 countries of highest alert where World Vision operates, highlighting the driving factors and impacts of hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity on children globally, and advocating to governments and donors to do more to prevent mass starvation.
For more information please contact: World Vision’s Middle East Crisis Response
Communications & Advocacy Senior Advisor, Micah Branaman, micah_branaman@wvi.org
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian and development organisation dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities to reach their full potential by tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.
For more information, please visit www.wvi.org or follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, @WorldVision
[1] Based on the number of children in northern Gaza (147,000) and the anticipated number of child deaths once the IPC’s criterion is expected to be met (0.0004), equals at least 59 children dying daily.
[2] The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an independent and apolitical mechanism, released analyses in December 2023 and March 2024 warning of impending famine. However, even with widespread reports of significant hunger, the IPC, which is the official body that analyses food insecurity, says it is unable to gather enough information to formally classify the situation in northern Gaza as famine and that waiting for a retrospective famine classification before acting is indefensible.
[3] According to the IPC, ‘famine occurs when food security, nutrition and mortality altogether portray famine conditions, meaning at least 20% of the population is in IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe), with about one out of three children being acutely malnourished and two deaths for every 10,000 inhabitants, or four child deaths out of 10,000 children per day, due to outright starvation or to the interaction of malnutrition and disease’.