More than 100 aid agencies say 'mass starvation' spreading across Gaza

BBC News

23-07-2025

Update:
Date: 08:15 BST
Title: Gazans collapsing in the street from hunger, UN agency reports
Content: A 14-year-old Palestinian boy, who medics say is malnourished, pictured on a bed at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday
The UN's humanitarian agency Ocha released a new update on Tuesday, warning of "the rapid collapse of the last lifelines keeping people
alive". Citing local health officials, it says:
Update:
Date: 07:58 BST
Title: Malnutrition starkly on the rise, WHO official tells BBC
Content: A World Health Organization (WHO) official has told the BBC of seeing children in Gaza who look younger than their age because of malnutrition.
Speaking to our colleagues on the Today programme, WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza Dr Rik Peeperkorn says malnutrition is "starkly on the rise" in Gaza.
"In 2025 only, we talk about nearly 30,000 children who are malnourished," he explains.
Dr Peeperkorn visits Gaza frequently, and describes how on his latest trip, his team "saw a child in a malnutrition ward... a child that looks like they're two when actually they're five".
"The lack of basic food supplies is affecting everyone," he adds. "It's even affecting our colleagues in Gaza, a kind of lethargy all over."
Update:
Date: 07:36 BST
Title: 33 dead from malnutrition in 48 hours, Hamas-run ministry said on Tuesday
Content: A GHF aid point near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, photographed in June
As conditions deteriorate in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry is now dividing its death toll into categories.
Yesterday, it said that 33 people, including 12 children, had died from malnutrition the past 48 hours, bringing the total to 101, including 80 children overall.
It also said 1,026 people have been killed by Israel's military while seeking food aid since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution system began on 27 May.
A slightly higher figure, 1,054, figure was used by the UN on Tuesday.
According to the UN, about 87.8% of Gaza is now covered by Israeli evacuation orders or is within Israeli militarised zones, leaving the 2.1 million population squeezed into about 46 sq km (18 sq miles) of land.
In total, the Hamas-run health ministry reports at least 59,029 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023, when the Israeli military launched a campaign in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
Update:
Date: 07:19 BST
Title: Israel says 950 trucks' worth of aid waiting for distribution in Gaza
Content: A still from a video shared by IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani, which he says shows aid inside Gaza
Despite criticism from humanitarian organisations, Israel says crucial supplies are waiting in Gaza, ready to be delivered to Palestinians.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Nadav Shoshani shared a video of "950 trucks worth of aid", which he says are "for international organizations to pick up and distribute to Gazan civilians".
"This is after Israel facilitated the aid entry into Gaza," he adds.
The aid agencies do not dispute there is undistributed aid inside Gaza. In their statement, they say "tons" of aid and critical supplies are waiting "just outside Gaza, in warehouses – and even within Gaza itself".
But, these organisations claim that they have been "blocked from accessing or delivering them" by Israeli government restrictions.
Israel, though, says the system - run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since May - prevents supplies being stolen by Hamas.
On Tuesday evening, Israeli Army Radio quoted Cogat as saying Hamas was "conducting a false campaign regarding the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, as a pressure tool within the negotiations".
Update:
Date: 07:11 BST
Title: 'Those we serve are wasting away'
Content: As we just reported, more than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups are warning of mass starvation in Gaza - while pressing for governments to take action.
The letter says aid distributions in Gaza "average just 28 trucks a day"; the UN has previously suggested that a minimum of 600 lorries a day are required to feed the population of two million people.
"As mass starvation spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away," the groups say, before calling for a ceasefire, as well as the opening of crossings and a full flow of food through a "UN-led mechanism".
The groups say access has been "denied" to "tons" of crucial supplies, and accuse Israel of false promises around plans to scale up aid "when there is no real change on the ground".
Yesterday, the Israeli military body responsible for co-ordinating aid deliveries, Cogat, insisted that Israel acts in accordance with international law.
It said it facilitates the entry of aid, while ensuring it does not reach Hamas.
Update:
Date: 07:06 BST
Title: More than 100 aid agencies say mass starvation spreading across Gaza
Content: Jacqueline HowardLive editor
More than 100 aid agencies, including Save the Children and Médecins Sans Frontières, have released a joint statement "sounding the alarm" over what they say is "mass starvation" across Gaza.
"Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions," the statement says.
Israel has acknowledged a significant drop in supplies reaching Gazans. But its officials say the food is there - and instead point to the aid agencies for not getting it to the people.
For their part, the aid agencies have long reported issues in co-ordinating safe passage with Israel to distribute aid.
Over recent days, the Hamas-run health ministry has reported dozens of recent deaths from malnutrition, while the agencies say hundreds have been killed while seeking aid in the past two months.
We'll have all the latest news and reaction on this page, so stay with us.