At least 213 people in Gaza have died from mass hunger since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday, as international organizations warn that the humanitarian catastrophe is deepening.
The latest figure includes two deaths in the past 24 hours, officials said. Among the dead are 81 children. The Health Ministry also reported more than 80,000 cases of malnutrition in Gaza, with over 5,000 cases recorded in July alone. The data could not be independently verified.
The figures come as the World Health Organization (WHO) this week described Gaza’s starvation as “man-made.”
“I don’t know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it is man-made and that is very clear… This is because of the blockade,” said WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a news briefing Wednesday.
He added that since July 17, all treatment centers for severe acute malnutrition in Gaza have been full and are running out of essential supplies.
Meanwhile, more than 100 aid organizations have issued a joint statement urging governments to act, saying they “must stop waiting for permission.”
“Humanitarian organizations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes,” the statement read. Warehouses both within and just outside Gaza are filled with “food, clean water, [and] medical supplies,” it said, but aid groups are blocked from accessing them.
“The Government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,” the statement added.
Israel, in response, has rejected blame. “In Gaza today, there’s no famine caused by Israel, there is a man-made shortage, it’s been engineered by Hamas,” said Israeli spokesperson David Mencer in an interview with Sky News.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) added in a statement to TIME: “Despite the false claims that are being spread, the State of Israel does not limit the number of humanitarian aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip.”
Health organizations warn of a sharp rise in malnutrition
Health workers on the ground described an “alarming” increase in severe malnutrition.
“Families stated that their diet is almost nonexistent,” said Mohammed Almadhoun, a community health worker in Gaza working for Medical Aid for Palestinians. “On their luckiest day, they just have dry bread and tea.”
Sarah Davies, a spokesperson for the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), said that for most, the best case scenario is finding bread.
“If you don’t have that, you’re planning the entire day on what you could possibly find [to eat],” she told TIME.
Prior to the war in Gaza, an average of 500 aid trucks entered the enclave daily. Gaza has since been under blockade, after Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel killing around 1,200 people and taking approximately 250 hostages on Oct. 7 2023.
Israel has since imposed a siege on Gaza and has halted the entry of goods into the strip. While the severity of the blockade has fluctuated throughout the war, Israel most recently imposed a near-total blockade on Gaza, which has since been partially lifted in May.
Gaza’s new aid distribution plan, controlled by the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) means that nearly all aid entering the enclave can only be collected at certain times from four centers run by GHF, three of which are in the south of Gaza.
GHF has faced severe criticism from international organizations, including the United Nations which has called the foundation’s aid scheme “a sadistic death-trap.”
Almost 250 organizations signed a joint statement in June calling for change to Gaza’s aid distribution, saying that “starved and weakened civilians are being forced to trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones,” under the GHF system.
In response, the GHF has said its “process of securely moving aid into a network of Secure Distribution Sites (SDSs) is allowing for the distribution of millions of lifesaving meals directly to the people of Gaza without interference or diversion.”
Hundreds of Palestinians killed while seeking aid
The United Nations said Tuesday that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid since the new aid distribution program was established on May 27.
“As of 21 July, 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 U.N. and other humanitarian organizations’ aid convoys,” said spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan.
The Israel Defense Forces said they conducted thorough investigations following reports of civilian casualties at aid distribution points.
“Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted in the Southern Command and instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned,” the IDF said in a statement to TIME. “The aforementioned incidents are under review by the competent authorities in the IDF.”
At the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah, Davies noted that more than 3,400 patients have been treated for weapon wounds since May 27. “A very high majority of those do tell us that they were attempting to access these [GHF] food distribution sites when they were injured, and there is a very high percentage of gunshot wounds to those patients.”
The ICRC was not able to confirm where gunfire that has injured patients has come from.
She added that the issue of hunger is being compounded by a number of other “catastrophic” challenges. “People have been wounded, people are grieving, they’ve lost family members who’ve been killed, children who have been killed,” she said. “They’ve lost their homes.”
Since the start of the war, Gaza’s Health Ministry has reported that over 59,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. In the absence of independent monitoring on the ground, the ministry is the primary source for casualty data relied upon by humanitarian groups, journalists, and international bodies. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
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