Fifteen die of starvation in Gaza Strip, medics say

The Advertiser

22-07-2025

A six-week-old infant is among 15 people who have died of starvation in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, local health officials say, with malnutrition killing Palestinians faster than at any point in the 21-month war.
The family of the Gaza City child, Yousef, could not find baby formula to feed him, his uncle Adham al-Safadi said.
"You can't get milk anywhere, and if you do find any it's $US100 for a tub," he said, looking at his dead nephew.
Three of the other Palestinians who died of hunger over the last day were also children, including 13-year-old Abdulhamid al-Ghalban, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in air strikes, shelling and shooting since launching their assault on the Gaza Strip in response to attacks on Israel by the Hamas militant group that killed 1200 people and captured 251 hostages in October 2023.
For the first time since the war began, Palestinian officials say dozens are now also dying of hunger.
The Gaza Strip's food stocks have run down since Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March and then lifted that blockade in May with new measures it says are needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups.
At least 101 people are known to have died of hunger during the conflict, according to Palestinian officials, including 80 children, most of them in just the last few weeks.
Israel, which controls all supplies entering the strip, denies that it is responsible for shortages of food.
Israel's military said that it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza as a matter of utmost importance" and works to facilitate its entry in co-ordination with the international community.
It has blamed the United Nations for failing to protect aid it says is stolen by Hamas and other militants.
The fighters deny stealing it.
More than 800 people have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near distribution centres of a new US-backed aid organisation.
The UN has rejected this system as inherently unsafe and a violation of humanitarian neutrality principles needed to ensure that distribution succeeds.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the situation for the 2.3 million residents of the Palestinian enclave a "horror show".
"We are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles," Guterres told the UN Security Council.
"That system is being denied the conditions to function."
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which supported hundreds of thousands of Gazans in the first year of the war, said its aid stocks were now depleted and some of its own staff were starving.
"Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left," its director Jan Egeland told Reuters.
"Israel is not yielding. They just want to paralyse our work," he said.
The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday that its staff as well as doctors and humanitarian workers were fainting on duty in the Gaza Strip due to hunger and exhaustion.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that images of civilians killed during the distribution of aid were "unbearable" and urged Israel to deliver on pledges to improve the situation.
On Tuesday, men and boys lugged sacks of flour past destroyed buildings and tarpaulins in Gaza City, grabbing what food they could from aid warehouses.
"We haven't eaten for five days," said Mohammed Jundia.
Israeli military statistics showed on Tuesday that an average of 146 trucks of aid per day had entered the enclave over the course of the war.
The United States has said a minimum of 600 trucks per day are needed to feed the Gaza Strip's population.
"Hospitals are already overwhelmed by the number of casualties from gunfire. They can't provide much more help for hunger-related symptoms because of food and medicine shortages," said Khalil al-Deqran, a spokesperson for the health ministry.
Deqran said 600,000 people were suffering from malnutrition, including at least 60,000 pregnant women.
Symptoms among those going hungry include dehydration and anaemia, he said.
Baby formula in particular is in critically short supply, according to aid groups, doctors and residents.
A six-week-old infant is among 15 people who have died of starvation in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, local health officials say, with malnutrition killing Palestinians faster than at any point in the 21-month war.
The family of the Gaza City child, Yousef, could not find baby formula to feed him, his uncle Adham al-Safadi said.
"You can't get milk anywhere, and if you do find any it's $US100 for a tub," he said, looking at his dead nephew.
Three of the other Palestinians who died of hunger over the last day were also children, including 13-year-old Abdulhamid al-Ghalban, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in air strikes, shelling and shooting since launching their assault on the Gaza Strip in response to attacks on Israel by the Hamas militant group that killed 1200 people and captured 251 hostages in October 2023.
For the first time since the war began, Palestinian officials say dozens are now also dying of hunger.
The Gaza Strip's food stocks have run down since Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March and then lifted that blockade in May with new measures it says are needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups.
At least 101 people are known to have died of hunger during the conflict, according to Palestinian officials, including 80 children, most of them in just the last few weeks.
Israel, which controls all supplies entering the strip, denies that it is responsible for shortages of food.
Israel's military said that it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza as a matter of utmost importance" and works to facilitate its entry in co-ordination with the international community.
It has blamed the United Nations for failing to protect aid it says is stolen by Hamas and other militants.
The fighters deny stealing it.
More than 800 people have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near distribution centres of a new US-backed aid organisation.
The UN has rejected this system as inherently unsafe and a violation of humanitarian neutrality principles needed to ensure that distribution succeeds.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the situation for the 2.3 million residents of the Palestinian enclave a "horror show".
"We are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles," Guterres told the UN Security Council.
"That system is being denied the conditions to function."
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which supported hundreds of thousands of Gazans in the first year of the war, said its aid stocks were now depleted and some of its own staff were starving.
"Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left," its director Jan Egeland told Reuters.
"Israel is not yielding. They just want to paralyse our work," he said.
The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday that its staff as well as doctors and humanitarian workers were fainting on duty in the Gaza Strip due to hunger and exhaustion.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that images of civilians killed during the distribution of aid were "unbearable" and urged Israel to deliver on pledges to improve the situation.
On Tuesday, men and boys lugged sacks of flour past destroyed buildings and tarpaulins in Gaza City, grabbing what food they could from aid warehouses.
"We haven't eaten for five days," said Mohammed Jundia.
Israeli military statistics showed on Tuesday that an average of 146 trucks of aid per day had entered the enclave over the course of the war.
The United States has said a minimum of 600 trucks per day are needed to feed the Gaza Strip's population.
"Hospitals are already overwhelmed by the number of casualties from gunfire. They can't provide much more help for hunger-related symptoms because of food and medicine shortages," said Khalil al-Deqran, a spokesperson for the health ministry.
Deqran said 600,000 people were suffering from malnutrition, including at least 60,000 pregnant women.
Symptoms among those going hungry include dehydration and anaemia, he said.
Baby formula in particular is in critically short supply, according to aid groups, doctors and residents.
A six-week-old infant is among 15 people who have died of starvation in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, local health officials say, with malnutrition killing Palestinians faster than at any point in the 21-month war.
The family of the Gaza City child, Yousef, could not find baby formula to feed him, his uncle Adham al-Safadi said.
"You can't get milk anywhere, and if you do find any it's $US100 for a tub," he said, looking at his dead nephew.
Three of the other Palestinians who died of hunger over the last day were also children, including 13-year-old Abdulhamid al-Ghalban, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in air strikes, shelling and shooting since launching their assault on the Gaza Strip in response to attacks on Israel by the Hamas militant group that killed 1200 people and captured 251 hostages in October 2023.
For the first time since the war began, Palestinian officials say dozens are now also dying of hunger.
The Gaza Strip's food stocks have run down since Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March and then lifted that blockade in May with new measures it says are needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups.
At least 101 people are known to have died of hunger during the conflict, according to Palestinian officials, including 80 children, most of them in just the last few weeks.
Israel, which controls all supplies entering the strip, denies that it is responsible for shortages of food.
Israel's military said that it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza as a matter of utmost importance" and works to facilitate its entry in co-ordination with the international community.
It has blamed the United Nations for failing to protect aid it says is stolen by Hamas and other militants.
The fighters deny stealing it.
More than 800 people have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near distribution centres of a new US-backed aid organisation.
The UN has rejected this system as inherently unsafe and a violation of humanitarian neutrality principles needed to ensure that distribution succeeds.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the situation for the 2.3 million residents of the Palestinian enclave a "horror show".
"We are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles," Guterres told the UN Security Council.
"That system is being denied the conditions to function."
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which supported hundreds of thousands of Gazans in the first year of the war, said its aid stocks were now depleted and some of its own staff were starving.
"Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left," its director Jan Egeland told Reuters.
"Israel is not yielding. They just want to paralyse our work," he said.
The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday that its staff as well as doctors and humanitarian workers were fainting on duty in the Gaza Strip due to hunger and exhaustion.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that images of civilians killed during the distribution of aid were "unbearable" and urged Israel to deliver on pledges to improve the situation.
On Tuesday, men and boys lugged sacks of flour past destroyed buildings and tarpaulins in Gaza City, grabbing what food they could from aid warehouses.
"We haven't eaten for five days," said Mohammed Jundia.
Israeli military statistics showed on Tuesday that an average of 146 trucks of aid per day had entered the enclave over the course of the war.
The United States has said a minimum of 600 trucks per day are needed to feed the Gaza Strip's population.
"Hospitals are already overwhelmed by the number of casualties from gunfire. They can't provide much more help for hunger-related symptoms because of food and medicine shortages," said Khalil al-Deqran, a spokesperson for the health ministry.
Deqran said 600,000 people were suffering from malnutrition, including at least 60,000 pregnant women.
Symptoms among those going hungry include dehydration and anaemia, he said.
Baby formula in particular is in critically short supply, according to aid groups, doctors and residents.
A six-week-old infant is among 15 people who have died of starvation in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, local health officials say, with malnutrition killing Palestinians faster than at any point in the 21-month war.
The family of the Gaza City child, Yousef, could not find baby formula to feed him, his uncle Adham al-Safadi said.
"You can't get milk anywhere, and if you do find any it's $US100 for a tub," he said, looking at his dead nephew.
Three of the other Palestinians who died of hunger over the last day were also children, including 13-year-old Abdulhamid al-Ghalban, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in air strikes, shelling and shooting since launching their assault on the Gaza Strip in response to attacks on Israel by the Hamas militant group that killed 1200 people and captured 251 hostages in October 2023.
For the first time since the war began, Palestinian officials say dozens are now also dying of hunger.
The Gaza Strip's food stocks have run down since Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March and then lifted that blockade in May with new measures it says are needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups.
At least 101 people are known to have died of hunger during the conflict, according to Palestinian officials, including 80 children, most of them in just the last few weeks.
Israel, which controls all supplies entering the strip, denies that it is responsible for shortages of food.
Israel's military said that it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza as a matter of utmost importance" and works to facilitate its entry in co-ordination with the international community.
It has blamed the United Nations for failing to protect aid it says is stolen by Hamas and other militants.
The fighters deny stealing it.
More than 800 people have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near distribution centres of a new US-backed aid organisation.
The UN has rejected this system as inherently unsafe and a violation of humanitarian neutrality principles needed to ensure that distribution succeeds.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the situation for the 2.3 million residents of the Palestinian enclave a "horror show".
"We are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles," Guterres told the UN Security Council.
"That system is being denied the conditions to function."
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which supported hundreds of thousands of Gazans in the first year of the war, said its aid stocks were now depleted and some of its own staff were starving.
"Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left," its director Jan Egeland told Reuters.
"Israel is not yielding. They just want to paralyse our work," he said.
The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday that its staff as well as doctors and humanitarian workers were fainting on duty in the Gaza Strip due to hunger and exhaustion.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that images of civilians killed during the distribution of aid were "unbearable" and urged Israel to deliver on pledges to improve the situation.
On Tuesday, men and boys lugged sacks of flour past destroyed buildings and tarpaulins in Gaza City, grabbing what food they could from aid warehouses.
"We haven't eaten for five days," said Mohammed Jundia.
Israeli military statistics showed on Tuesday that an average of 146 trucks of aid per day had entered the enclave over the course of the war.
The United States has said a minimum of 600 trucks per day are needed to feed the Gaza Strip's population.
"Hospitals are already overwhelmed by the number of casualties from gunfire. They can't provide much more help for hunger-related symptoms because of food and medicine shortages," said Khalil al-Deqran, a spokesperson for the health ministry.
Deqran said 600,000 people were suffering from malnutrition, including at least 60,000 pregnant women.
Symptoms among those going hungry include dehydration and anaemia, he said.
Baby formula in particular is in critically short supply, according to aid groups, doctors and residents.