The United Nations has reported a staggering number of Palestinians killed while attempting to access food in Gaza. According to Thameen Al-Kheetan, UN human rights office spokesman, “As of July 21, we have recorded 1,054 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 766 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organisations’ aid convoys.” These starvation and malnutrition deaths have been attributed to the Israeli military.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has led to a significant increase in starvation and malnutrition-related deaths. At least 101 Palestinians, including 80 children, have died due to hunger and malnutrition since the war erupted. In just 24 hours, 15 people, including four children, have succumbed to starvation and malnutrition. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, head of al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, confirmed that “these deaths were recorded at hospitals in Gaza, including al-Shifa in Gaza City, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis… over the past 72 hours.”
Rachel Cummings, Save the Children’s humanitarian director, described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic,” stating that there have been no adequate food supplies in Gaza for a very long time. She added that the markets are empty, and the water sanitation situation is not adequate to meet the needs of 2 million people “who are all on the brink of famine.” Cummings witnessed “hungry people, children carrying empty bowls, looking for food, looking for water” in Deir el-Balah.
The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, has condemned the starvation in Gaza as a “man-made” famine. “What we are seeing now in Gaza is the most horrific stage of Israel’s starvation campaign,” Fakhri told Al Jazeera. He emphasized that the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant “create a legal obligation: Countries must act to stop starvation.”
The situation is equally dire for medical personnel, with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers in Gaza “fainting due to hunger and exhaustion,” according to UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini. Deirdre Nunan, a Canadian orthopaedic surgeon volunteering at Nasser Hospital, shared her observations, saying, “Right now, I am seeing severe hunger and starvation amongst both my colleagues and my patients… I see people that struggle to get through a day’s work because they don’t have the energy to do their normal duties.”
The AFP journalists union has also raised concerns about the welfare of its journalists working in Gaza, warning that they are at risk of dying due to hunger. One freelancer posted a heartbreaking message on social media, saying, “I don’t have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin, and I can’t work.” The union emphasized that most of its workers in the Strip do not have the physical capacity to do their jobs any longer and the situation is worsening.