The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the famine imposed by the Israeli occupation has claimed the lives of 13 Palestinians, including three children, in the past 24 hours, the highest daily toll since the hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip worsened.

Gaza: starved to death by Israel

The ministry said in a statement that the total number of malnutrition victims has risen to 361, including 130 children, since October 2023. The previous highest toll was recorded on 25 August, with 11 deaths.

It added that “since the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) announced famine in Gaza, 83 deaths have been recorded, including 15 children.” In a report released on August 22, the UN initiative warned that the famine that has struck the city of Gaza (north) is likely to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis by the end of September.

Since March 2, the occupation has continued to completely close the crossings into the Strip, allowing only a very limited number of trucks loaded with aid to enter, pushing Gaza to the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.

On Monday 1 September, the government media office said that only 534 aid trucks had managed to enter the Strip in five days, out of an expected 3,000, and that some of them had been looted and stolen.

In the past, relevant international and civil society organizations have warned of the worsening famine and malnutrition that has been plaguing Gaza for months, without the world moving to save the children who are dying of hunger every day.

This comes at a time when the US-backed Israeli war on Gaza has been ongoing since 7 October 2023, leaving more than 63,000 dead and 160,000 wounded, most of them women and children, in addition to thousands missing and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Featured image via the Canary