Starvation and Bloodshed Grip Gaza as Peace Talks Stall
The infant, who succumbed to malnutrition at Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital, was one of two people who died of starvation on Saturday, according to hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya. "He died because there is no food, no milk, no medicine," Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera. "We are losing children every day. We are powerless."
The latest deaths come as Gaza's Ministry of Health sounded the alarm over unprecedented levels of hunger and overcrowding in emergency wards. Officials say that 17,000 children in the enclave are now suffering from severe malnutrition as aid remains scarce and access to basic necessities continues to deteriorate.
While peace talks aimed at brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have stalled, the situation on the ground has only grown more desperate. On Saturday, Israeli air raids and artillery shelling continued to pound the territory, hitting homes, aid distribution sites, and even tents sheltering displaced families.
Among the 116 Palestinians killed Saturday, 38 were shot dead while seeking food at controversial United States-backed aid distribution points operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a group that has largely replaced United Nations and NGO-led relief operations in recent months. According to Gaza's civil defence agency, the shootings occurred near two GHF sites — one southwest of Khan Younis and another northwest of Rafah.
"These deaths were the result of Israeli gunfire," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told Al Jazeera. Witnesses described terrifying scenes of chaos. "Suddenly, we saw the jeeps coming from one side and the tanks from the other, and they started shooting at us," said Mohammed al-Khalidi, who narrowly escaped with his life.
Another witness, Mohammed al-Barbary, said his cousin was killed in the incident. "The GHF sites are death traps," he said. "My cousin was innocent. He went to get food. He wanted to live. We want to live like everyone else." One boy, Ahmad Zeidan, 9, whose mother was killed while fetching food for her children, described the the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as 'a firing squad.'
The GHF denied responsibility for the shootings, saying the killings occurred "several kilometres away" and "hours before our sites opened." However, Gaza's Health Ministry claims nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed near GHF aid points since the group began operations in late May.
Israeli military officials said they are "reviewing the incident."
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes claimed dozens more lives across the Strip. Four bodies were recovered after a strike on Bani Suheila near Khan Younis. An Israeli drone attack also killed one person in a tent housing displaced people in Khan Younis.
In central Gaza, a strike on a home in the town of az-Zawayda killed the director of Nuseirat police, Colonel Omar Saeed Aql, along with 11 members of his family, according to the Interior Ministry.
More air raids hit Gaza City, killing three people in the Zeitoun neighbourhood and five more in Tal al-Hawa. The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed the casualties. In the north, two people were killed by Israeli shelling in the Jabalia an-Nazla neighbourhood.
In a separate incident, Israeli naval forces opened fire on and detained three Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Gaza, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office. Israel has enforced a strict naval blockade on Gaza since 2007, which has further intensified since the war began in October 2023.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary said families are increasingly faced with an impossible choice — risk death for food or bury their loved ones empty-handed.
"People are not just hungry," she said. "They are being hunted while they are hungry."
Since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, Israel has killed 58,386 people and injured 139,077 others, the majority of whom have been women and children, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health.
(File photo).
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