Starvation haunts Gaza as deaths from hunger rise to 113

CAIRO – 24 July 2025: Another two people died from due to starvation and malnutrition in Gaza over the past day, according to the enclave’s health ministry, as the UN warned this week that a quarter of the population is facing famine-like conditions.

The total number of fatalities due to starvation and malnutrition triggered by the Israeli besiege now stands at 113, according to the ministry’s tally on Thursday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has documented the death of 21 children under five-years-old in Gaza due to malnutrition, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

'Humanitarian Distress Call'

More than 100 aid organizations on Wednesday warned about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza , stating that "mass starvation" is spreading and that their own colleagues are suffering from severe shortages.

In a statement, the signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Save the Children, stated that "our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away."

They emphasized that aid workers themselves are now joining food lines, risking their lives to feed their families.

The organizations are calling for an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings, and the unrestricted flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms.

Commissioner-General of the UN releif agency UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini has called for allowing unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza, noting that they have the equivalent of 6,000 trucks loaded with food and medical supplies in both Egypt and Jordan.

'Death Traps'

Israel had blocked aid deliveries to Gaza for nearly three months since shattering a ceasefire with Hamas in March, before being forced to resume them in May under heavy global pressure, including from its closest allies in the West.

Israel resumed the aid mainly through the controversial Israeli and US backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) at a few fixed points across the enclave. At these sites, more than 1,000 starving Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces.

The health ministry in Gaza has called these points “death traps” and accused the Israeli occupation and the GHF of “deliberately committing massacres against the starving in a systematic manner using various methods.”

'Crying to Sleep'

Ghebreyesus on Wednesday mentioned the complete blockade imposed by Israel on humanitarian and commercial access from early March to mid-May.

He stated that the food deliveries currently are intermittent and “remain far below what is needed for the survival of the population.”

“Parents tell us their children cry themselves to sleep from hunger.”

'100,000 Women, Children in Danger'

Emergency Director for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) Ross Smith stated this week that nearly 100,000 women and children in Gaza are experiencing severe acute malnutrition that they need treatment as soon as possible.

The WFP noted in a statement  that countless Gazans were shot dead after encountering a convoy of 25 aid trucks on Sunday, trying to get food for themselves and their families.

WFP condemned the incident, stating that the victims “were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation”.

Meanwhile, Israel has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians since the start of the war in October 2023, devastated infrastructure, left most of health facilities inoperable and pushed the enclave toward imminent famine.