Gaza hospital says 21 children dead from malnutrition and starvation - War on Gaza
Gaza's population of more than two million people is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with residents frequently killed as they try to collect humanitarian aid at a handful of distribution points.
"Twenty-one children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in various areas across the Gaza Strip," Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, told reporters.
Abu Salmiya said new cases of malnutrition and starvation were arriving at Gaza's remaining functioning hospitals "every moment" warning there could be "alarming numbers" of deaths due to starvation.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Gaza a "horror show" in a speech on Tuesday, with "a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times".
After talks to extend a six-week ceasefire broke down, Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza on March 2 this year, allowing nothing in until trucks were again permitted to enter at a trickle in late May.
However, stocks accumulated during the ceasefire have gradually depleted, leaving the territory's inhabitants experiencing the worst shortages since the start of the war in October 2023.
Chaotic scenes have become frequent at aid distribution areas since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation effectively sidelined a vast UN aid delivery network in Gaza.
The UN on Tuesday said Israeli forces had killed over 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the GHF began its operations in late May, with most near the foundation's sites.
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani posted a video online on Tuesday evening, showing what he said was "950 trucks worth of aid currently waiting in Gaza for international organisations to pick up and distribute".
"This is after Israel facilitated the aid entry into Gaza," he wrote on X.
🎥 WATCH: 950 trucks worth of aid, currently waiting in Gaza❗️for international organizations to pick up and distribute to Gazan civilians. This is after Israel facilitated the aid entry into Gaza. pic.twitter.com/aQTR7Sryhs — LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) July 22, 2025
Latest attacks
Earlier Tuesday, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes had killed 15 people, after the World Health Organization said Israel attacked its facilities amid its expanding ground operations.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Israeli strikes on the Al-Shati camp west of Gaza City had killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 50.
Most of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once during the conflict and the Al-Shati camp, on the Mediterranean coast, hosts thousands of people displaced from the north in tents and makeshift shelters.
Raed Bakr, 30, lives with his three children and said he heard "a massive explosion" at about 1:40 am on Tuesday (2240 GMT Monday), which blew their tent away.
"I felt like I was in a nightmare. Fire, dust, smoke and body parts flying through the air, dirt everywhere. The children were screaming," Bakr, whose wife was killed last year, told AFP.
Reports of the latest death toll came as the Roman Catholic church's most senior cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "morally unacceptable".
Pizzaballa spent three days in Gaza after an Israeli strike on the territory's only Catholic church last Thursday which killed three people.
New ground operations
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accused Israeli troops of entering its staff residence, and forcing women and children to evacuate, as they handcuffed, stripped and interrogated male staff at gunpoint.
Israeli forces meanwhile expanded ground operations in Deir el-Balah following intense shelling of the area in central Gaza on Monday.
The civil defence agency's Bassal said two people were killed in Deir el-Balah.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were living in the area, which until now had been considered relatively safe.
Some 30,000 were living in displacement sites.
OCHA said nearly 88 percent of the entire Gaza Strip was now either under evacuation orders or within Israeli militarised zones, forcing the population of 2.4 million into an ever-shrinking space.
Despite what Guterres described as "devastation... upon devastation", Israeli far-right leaders met in Jerusalem to discuss plans for redeveloping Gaza as a tourist-friendly "riviera", with a permanent Jewish presence.
A "master plan" presented at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, foresees the construction of housing for 1.2 million new Jewish residents and the development of industrial and agricultural zones, as well as tourism complexes on the coast.
Since 7 October 2023, Israel's genocidal war in Gaza has killed at least 59,106 Palestinians, most of them women and children, with more than 142,511 others wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
* This story was edited by Ahram Online.
Follow us on:
Short link:
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al-Ahram Weekly
7 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Israel kills 18 more starving aid-seekers in Gaza despite declaring 'humanitarian pause' - War on Gaza
Israel killed at least 18 starving Palestinians, including two children, on Sunday morning as they waited for food aid in Gaza—just hours after announcing a 'tactical pause' in its war on the Strip, medical sources told Palestinian news agency WAFA. The victims were struck by Israeli fire near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution centres in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, as well as in central Gaza. Earlier in the day, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that Israeli occupation forces had killed 11 people and injured over 36 others in the past 24 hours in attacks targeting Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid. This brings the total number of Palestinians killed while seeking food to 1,132, with more than 7,521 others wounded. Gaza's hospitals also recorded six additional deaths from famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of such deaths to 133, including 87 children. Meanwhile, Israel continued its intense bombardment across the Strip, targeting residential homes and tents sheltering displaced people. In total, hospitals received 88 fatalities on Sunday—including 12 bodies recovered from under rubble—and 374 wounded. The ongoing massacres of aid-seekers come despite Israel's declaration of a "tactical pause" in military operations in parts of the Gaza Strip, ostensibly to allow the passage of United Nations (UN) aid convoys. The move follows mounting international outrage over mass starvation in the besieged enclave and the nearly 22-month-long war. According to the Israeli army, the pause applies only to areas where its forces are 'not currently active,' including Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City. The pause is scheduled to run daily from 10:00am to 8:00pm. Israel added that 'designated secure routes' would remain open across the Strip to enable UN and NGO convoys to deliver food and medicine. However, it emphasized that military operations would continue elsewhere. In its latest update, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Sunday that the death toll from Israel's war on Gaza has reached 59,821, with 144,851 wounded since 7 October 2023. Of that total, 8,657 have been killed and 32,810 injured since 18 March, when Israel unilaterally broke a two-month ceasefire with Hamas—brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the US—resuming its genocidal war on Gaza. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
8 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
WHO says malnutrition reaching alarming levels in Gaza - Region
Malnutrition rates are reaching "alarming levels" in the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization warned Sunday, saying the Israeli "deliberate blocking" of aid was entirely preventable and had cost many lives. As Israel's blockade of Gaza approaches its fifth month, the World Health Organization warned that malnutrition was "on a dangerous trajectory … marked by a spike in deaths in July." Of the 74 recorded malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, 63 had occurred in July -- including 24 children under five, one child aged over five, and 38 adults, it added. "Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting," the UN health agency said. "The crisis remains entirely preventable. Deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health, and humanitarian aid has cost many lives." Israel imposed a complete blockade of Gaza on 2 March, blocking the entry of all humanitarian aid, including food, into the war-battered territory. The UN and NGOs on the ground have decried the severe scarcity facing Gaza's 2.4 million people, with shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel. More than 100 aid organisations have already warned that "mass starvation" was spreading amid Israel's blockade on food and humanitarian aid. Nearly one in five children under five in Gaza City is now acutely malnourished, the WHO said, citing its Nutrition Cluster partners. It said the percentage of children aged six to 59 months suffering from acute malnutrition had tripled in the city since June, making it the worst-hit area in the Gaza Strip. In Khan Younis and central Gaza, those rates have doubled in less than a month, it added. "These figures are likely an underestimation due to the severe access and security constraints preventing many families from reaching health facilities," the WHO said. Israel on Sunday began what it described as a limited "tactical pause" in its 21-month war on Gaza to allow the UN and aid agencies to tackle the outbreak of famine across the Palestinian territory. But the WHO called for sustained efforts to "flood" the Gaza Strip with diverse, nutritious food, and for the expedited delivery of therapeutic supplies for children and vulnerable groups, plus essential medicines and supplies. "This flow must remain consistent and unhindered to support recovery and prevent further deterioration", the Geneva-based agency said. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
12 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Israel keeps targeting aid-seekers in Gaza, kills 18 amid declared humanitarian pause - War on Gaza
Israel killed at least 18 Palestinians, including two children, on Sunday morning as they waited for food aid in Gaza—just hours after announcing a 'tactical pause' in its war on the Strip, medical sources told Palestinian news agency WAFA. The victims were struck by Israeli fire near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution centres in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, as well as in central Gaza. Earlier in the day, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that Israeli occupation forces had killed 11 people and injured over 36 others in the past 24 hours in attacks targeting Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid. This brings the total number of Palestinians killed while seeking food to 1,132, with more than 7,521 others wounded. Gaza's hospitals also recorded six additional deaths from famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of such deaths to 133, including 87 children. Meanwhile, Israel continued its intense bombardment across the Strip, targeting residential homes and tents sheltering displaced people. In total, hospitals received 88 fatalities on Sunday—including 12 bodies recovered from under rubble—and 374 wounded. The ongoing massacres of aid-seekers come despite Israel's declaration of a "tactical pause" in military operations in parts of the Gaza Strip, ostensibly to allow the passage of United Nations (UN) aid convoys. The move follows mounting international outrage over mass starvation in the besieged enclave and the nearly 22-month-long war. According to the Israeli army, the pause applies only to areas where its forces are 'not currently active,' including Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City. The pause is scheduled to run daily from 10:00am to 8:00pm. Israel added that 'designated secure routes' would remain open across the Strip to enable UN and NGO convoys to deliver food and medicine. However, it emphasized that military operations would continue elsewhere. In its latest update, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Sunday that the death toll from Israel's war on Gaza has reached 59,821, with 144,851 wounded since 7 October 2023. Of that total, 8,657 have been killed and 32,810 injured since 18 March, when Israel unilaterally broke a two-month ceasefire with Hamas—brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the US—resuming its genocidal war on Gaza. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
