IRC: "Children in Gaza Suffer Most from Hunger and Injuries... Urges Immediate Ceasefire and Humanitarian Intervention"

International Rescue Committee staff are providing health and nutrition services to children in Gaza City. International Rescue Committee

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The International Rescue Committee (IRC, Korea Representative: Lee Eunyoung) announced on October 1 that "children are suffering the most from extreme hunger and injuries due to the second year of war in the Gaza Strip," warning of the crisis and urgently calling for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian intervention by the international community. The International Rescue Committee strongly urged the international community to expand child protection systems, ensure humanitarian access throughout the Gaza Strip, and implement an immediate ceasefire to protect civilians.

According to the International Rescue Committee, requests for child protection in the Gaza Strip have increased by 48% in recent weeks, and there has been a sharp rise in cases of children suffering severe injuries from shell fragments and undergoing amputation surgeries. The Gaza Strip is already recorded as the region with the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world, and it is estimated that more than 4,000 children have lost their limbs since the outbreak of the war.

Due to the war, the number of children who have lost family members or are suffering from severe trauma has also surged, resulting in a dramatic increase in both physical and emotional harm. According to a recent International Rescue Committee survey of 469 households in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and Khan Yunis last month, 70% of children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing sleep disorders, and one in five children is silent or shows signs of emotional withdrawal.

This trauma is being further exacerbated by extreme hunger. The survey found that one in three children under the age of three had not eaten anything for 24 hours, and three out of four households with children under the age of five were facing severe malnutrition. Currently, only 1% of households in Gaza are able to secure food on a stable basis.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has projected that by June 2026, approximately 132,000 children under the age of five in the Gaza Strip will face acute malnutrition, with around 40,000 of them at risk of death. In particular, the humanitarian crisis, which has already reached a critical point, is worsening as ground operations intensify in densely populated northern areas, including Gaza City.

Ciaran Donnelly, Senior Vice President of Crisis Response, Recovery, and Development at the International Rescue Committee, stated, "Children in the Gaza Strip are losing their limbs, suffering from nightmares, and cannot feel safe even with their families. The International Rescue Committee is doing everything possible to help them, but relief operations are virtually paralyzed due to lack of safe access and essential supplies."

Lee Eunyoung, Korea Representative of the International Rescue Committee, emphasized, "Protecting children must be the top priority in all humanitarian responses. Only if the international community calls for an immediate ceasefire and ensures access can we fill the gaps in support and prevent an even greater humanitarian catastrophe."

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