In Gaza, nearly a third not eating for days, says UN; starvation deaths rise to 122

At least nine more people died of starvation in Gaza over the past 24 hours, bringing the official toll to 122 since Israel’s blockade began last October, Gaza’s health ministry said. Among the dead were two children, taking the total number of child deaths from hunger to 83.

“This is not a natural famine … It is a crime of extermination by starvation, unfolding before a silent world,” said Dr Munir Al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s health ministry, on X.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also sounded the alarm, reporting that one in four children and pregnant or breastfeeding women screened at its Gaza clinics last week were malnourished. “Rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have tripled in the last two weeks alone,” MSF said, blaming what it described as Israel’s “policy of starvation”.

Naima Abu Ful poses for a photo with her 2-year-old malnourished child, Yazan, at their home in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (AP/PTI)(AP07_25_2025_000015B)

UN Secretary General António Guterres denounced the global inaction, calling the suffering in Gaza a “moral crisis that challenges the global conscience.”

“I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we see by too many in the international community – the lack of compassion, the lack of truth, the lack of humanity,” Guterres said in a speech to Amnesty International’s global assembly.

The WFP earlier warned that Gaza could run out of child-focused lifesaving food supplies by mid-August, risking irreversible damage to tens of thousands of children already malnourished.

Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Airdropping aid

Israeli army officials said they would allow foreign countries to resume airdropping aid into Gaza “in the coming days”. However, aid agencies have criticised the move as dangerous, insufficient, and costly.

“In humanitarian settings, airdrops are used as a last resort. They are very, very expensive and can be quite dangerous,” said UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma, noting that trucks loaded with aid have been waiting for weeks in Jordan and Egypt. “Why use airdrops when you can drive hundreds of trucks through the borders?” she asked.

The overall death toll from Israeli military operations in Gaza now stands at 59,676, according to the health ministry. In the past 24 hours alone, 89 people were killed and 467 injured. More than 1,000 Palestinians attempting to collect food aid have died since the war began.

Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume next week, with both sides engaging in internal consultations. However, President Donald Trump on Friday said Hamas “did not want to make a deal” and echoed US concerns about delays in the hostage release plan.