Fiften Palestinians died from malnutrition under an Israeli-imposed famine in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday.
Four of them were children, including three identified as the infant Yousef al-Safadi, Abd al-Jawad al-Ghalban, 14, and Ahmad Hasant.
One of the adults was identified as 32-year-old woman with special needs, Raheel Rosros.
Medical officials confirmed the deaths occurred across Gaza’s north and south, underscoring widespread starvation amid severe shortages of food and aid.
The latest death bring Gaza’s starvation toll to at least 101 Palestinians, including 80 children, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
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Rosros’ father, Muhammad Rosros, told Middle East Eye that his daughter’s suffering from malnutrition and dehydration began over a month ago.
“From before the start of the war, she used to eat whatever she wanted, but she had lost everything she once used to ask for,” he said.
He indicated that she could not stomach the types of food brought into Gaza in the past few months.
‘I stopped fearing for my children from the constant shooting and strikes. Now, I am afraid for them because of hunger’
– Muhammad Rosros, Palestinian father
Several Palestinians have previously told MEE that upon receiving their box of aid they found the supplies to be woefully inadequate.
Rosros explained that his daughter used to weigh around 50 kilograms. She died weighing less than 25 kilograms.
He added that her sister, who also had special needs, was killed as a result of Israeli bombing earlier this year.
“One died as a result of shelling, the other died due to malnutrition,” he said. “Praise be to God.”
Rosros worries that he might lose his other tow children, one deaf and the other autistic, from malnutrition.
“I stopped fearing for my children from the constant shooting and strikes. Now, I am afraid for them because of hunger, that’s all,” he said.
“The hunger that has struck us is not normal. We would have never imagined. No one cares about us, not any Arab, Muslim or western country, none of them sympathise with us and what is happening to our children.”
Israel ‘starving civilians’
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, accused Israel on Sunday of “starving civilians”, including a million children, through its siege on vital food and medical deliveries into the Gaza Strip.
Unrwa called on Israel to lift its blockade and allow humanitarian aid to flow freely. At militarised distribution sites run by the US- and Israel-backed GHF civilians trying to access the food are being shot and killed by the Israeli army.
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Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that infant deaths caused by starvation are rising.
“These heartbreaking cases were not caused by direct bombing but by starvation, the lack of baby formula and the absence of basic healthcare,” civil defence spokesperson Mahm0ud Bassal told AFP.
Since Israel broke a six-week ceasefire in March, Israel has maintained a tight blockade on Gaza.
Although limited aid has trickled in since late May, supplies accumulated during the truce have run out, pushing the territory into the worst shortages since the war began.
The situation is particularly dire for pregnant women and newborns. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says its clinics are seeing record numbers of malnutrition cases.
“Many babies are being born prematurely due to widespread malnutrition among pregnant women,” said MSF doctor Joanne Perry.
