– Three of the five deaths were of children, bringing the total number of people starved to death by Israel to 387, including 138 children.
Israel has continued to block the free entry of aid into Gaza, causing the enclave to plunge into famine [Getty]
Five more Palestinians have starved to death in the past 24 hours due to Israel’s siege on the enclave, Gaza’s health ministry said on Sunday.
The ministry said that three of the five deaths were children, bringing the total number of Palestinians starved to death by Israel to 387, including 138 children.
Palestinian health authorities have recorded 109 deaths from starvation since the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared famine in Gaza City last month. The number of deaths is expected to rise due to Israel’s decimation of Gaza’s health system, deteriorating living conditions and the continued genocide, which is now in its 23rd month.
The United Nations officially declared famine in Gaza on 22 August, making it the first place in the Middle East outside of Africa to receive such a classification. The UN report highlighted that Israel’s actions in Gaza are the cause of the famine.
Israel continues to obstruct the free entry of aid into Gaza, with the enclave’s Government Media Office reporting that the total amount of aid that entered in July was at best 15 percent of the population’s basic needs.
UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram warned in an interview with Anadolu that the famine is at risk of worsening in Gaza City, which Israel is attempting to invade and fully occupy. Ingram warned that the famine could spread to the central Gaza Strip if action is not taken urgently.
“The last refuge for families in the northern Gaza Strip is fast becoming a place where childhood cannot survive,” Ingram warned earlier this week.
The UN official also described seeing children in hospitals with their “bodies riddled by shrapnel”.
“The unthinkable is not looming. It is already here. The escalation is underway,” Ingram said.