Palestinian Death Toll in Israel-Hamas War Passes 60,000, Gaza Health Ministry Says
The Israeli offensive, launched in response to Hamas' attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and fueled a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Experts warned Tuesday that the territory of about 2 million Palestinians is on the brink of famine after Israeli restrictions and a breakdown of security have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver aid.
The Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said that the death toll has climbed to 60,034, with 145,870 others wounded since the war started. The victims include 18,592 children and 9,782 women. Together, they make up nearly half the dead.
The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. Israel has disputed its figures, but hasn't provided its own account of casualties.
Dozens killed, most while seeking aid
Airstrikes on tents housing displaced people in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp late Monday killed 30 people, including 12 children and 14 women, according to Al-Awda Hspital.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, saying the militants operate in populated areas. The military said that it targeted Hamas military infrastructure over the past day, including rocket launchers, weapons storage facilities and tunnels.
Hospital officials, meanwhile, said that they received the bodies of an additional 33 people who were killed by gunfire around an aid convoy in southern Gaza on Monday, bringing the toll to 58. Witnesses said that Israeli forces fired toward the crowd.
Another 14 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday near a site in central Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, an Israeli-backed American contractor, according to local hospitals. GHF said that there were no violent incidents near its sites on Tuesday.
The Israeli military said it was 'not aware of casualties' as a result of Israeli gunfire near the GHF site. There was no comment from the military on the shooting near the aid convoy on Monday.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire while seeking aid since May, according to witnesses, health officials and the U.N. human rights office. Israel, which controls large areas of Gaza where aid is distributed, says that it has only fired warning shots at those who approach its forces.
Hunger crisis 'dramatically' worsens
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, the foremost international authority on food crises, said that Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years. But it said that recent developments, including Israeli restrictions, have 'dramatically worsened' the situation.
'The facts are in — and they are undeniable,' U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said. 'Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions … The trickle of aid must become an ocean.'
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denied that Israel was deliberately starving Gaza, and said that the focus on hunger was part of a 'distorted campaign of international pressure.'
'This pressure is directly sabotaging the chances for a ceasefire and hostage deal. It is only pushing towards military escalation by hardening Hamas's stance,' he said Tuesday.
The U.S. and Israel have both recalled their negotiating teams over the past week as long-running negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release seem to have stalled.
Palestinians swim for airdropped aid
Under mounting international pressure, Israel announced a series of measures over the weekend to increase the flow of aid, including expanded humanitarian corridors and international aid drops. U.N. officials say there has been little change on the ground so far, and much more is needed.
Air force cargo planes from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have dropped aid over Gaza in recent days, and France and Germany have announced plans to join that effort.
But Associated Press reporters in Gaza said that much of the aid has fallen in so-called red zones that Israel has ordered people to evacuate from.
Dozens of Palestinians raced into the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday to try and retrieve food from airdropped parcels that went off course. Some could be seen returning with soaked bags of tea and flour. One man held a can of beans.
Momen Abu Etayya said that his son had told him to 'catch the plane' when they saw it flying in the distance.
'I came to try to get aid from the sea. I almost drowned,' he said, adding that he had only managed to get three packets of biscuits.
U.N. agencies and aid groups have long expressed skepticism about airdrops over Gaza, saying they are far costlier and deliver much less aid than land shipments. Parcels can land on desperate crowds, causing injuries or deaths, and can also spark deadly stampedes as thousands try to reach them.
Hunger-related deaths
The World Health Organization says more than 60 people have died this month from malnutrition-related causes, including 24 children under age 5.
Overall, 88 children died of causes related to malnutrition since the start of the war, while 58 adults died this month from malnutrition-related causes, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
During hunger crises, people can die from malnutrition or from common illnesses or injuries that the body isn't strong enough to fight. The ministry doesn't include hunger-related deaths in its overall toll.
Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the attack that sparked the war, and abducted another 251. They are still holding 50 captives, around 20 believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.
The war took a major turn in early March when Israel imposed a complete 2½-month blockade, barring the entry of all food, medicine, fuel and other goods. Weeks later, Israel ended a ceasefire with a surprise bombardment and began seizing large areas of Gaza, measures it said were aimed at pressuring Hamas to release more hostages.
At least 8,867 Palestinians have been killed since then.
Israel eased the blockade in May, but U.N. agencies say it hasn't allowed nearly enough aid to enter and that they have struggled to deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order. An alternative Israeli-backed system run by GHF has been marred by violence and controversy.
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Japan Times
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Japan Today
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Japan Times
5 days ago
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On Gaza malnutrition ward, a child's arm is as wide as mother's thumb
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The Israeli military, it said, regularly facilitates the provision of medical services through aid organizations and the international community, with whom it works to meet the needs of Gaza's hospitals. 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 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 pediatric and maternity department in Nasser Medical Complex. "We need everything for the hospitals." Palestinian woman Najla Abu Aya feeds her malnourished 5-month-old daughter, Rama, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip on July 24. | REUTERS Israeli officials say many of those who died while malnourished in Gaza were suffering from preexisting illnesses. Famine experts say this is typical in the early stages of a hunger crisis. "Children with underlying conditions are more vulnerable. They get affected earlier," said Marko Kerac, clinical associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who helped draw up the WHO's treatment guidelines for severe acute malnutrition. 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. "Can you see? These are her legs. ... Look at her arms," she said. Israa Abu Haleeb and Ahmed Abu Haleeb mourn the death of their malnourished daughter Zainab Abu Haleeb in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on July 26. | REUTERS The youngest babies in particular need special therapeutic formulas made with clean water, and supplies are running low, Farra and the WHO said. "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 centers are also operating beyond capacity, she said. In the first two weeks of July, more than 5,000 children under the age of 5 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. Baby Wateen's mother said she tried to get the girl admitted last month, but the center was full. After 10 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 diarrhea, 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, counterintuitively, loss of appetite, doctors said. Yasmin herself lives on the one meal a day provided by the hospital. Some of the other babies, like 10-month-old Maria, were discharged over the weekend after gaining weight, and given formula milk to take home with them. But others, like 5-month-old Zainab Abu Haleeb, did not make it. Vulnerable to infection because of her severely malnourished state, she died on Saturday of sepsis. Her parents carried her tiny body out of the hospital for burial, wrapped in a white shroud.
