At least 67 Palestinian children in Gaza have died of starvation since 7 October 2023, amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes and a crippling blockade on humanitarian aid.
The current toll could dangerously rise as over 650,000 children under aged 5 in Gaza are now facing an imminent risk of hunger-related death, Gaza’s government media office said on Saturday.
The office warned that the war-torn enclave now faces severe and life-threatening levels of malnutrition in the coming weeks, with Israel continuing to deny of access to food, medicine, and fuel.
In its statement, the office stressed that "starvation is now killing what bombs have not", describing the ongoing siege as "one of the most extreme forms of collective punishment in modern history".
Dozens more deaths have been recorded over the past three days, as Israeli forces continue to obstruct the entry of flour, infant formula, and other essential nutritional and medical supplies. The government media office accused Israel of "deliberately pursuing a policy of mass starvation".
Last month, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, reported that around 112 children were being admitted daily to Gaza’s hospitals for malnutrition treatment.
He warned that malnutrition before the age of three can cause permanent developmental problems.
In a joint report released in late June, Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) and Doctors Against Genocide accused Israeli authorities of deliberately weaponising starvation as a method of genocide, leading to what was described as "preventable deaths and suffering of Palestinian children in Gaza".
"The world has watched Palestinian children starve to death in real time since the early days of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and refused to take meaningful action to save their lives," said DCIP advocacy officer Miranda Cleland.
The report highlighted that famine has gripped the Gaza Strip since at least early 2024, when the first Palestinian children began dying of starvation following Israel’s siege of northern Gaza.
It also stated that the starvation of children is a central component of Israel’s devastating military campaign, with newborns, infants, and children with chronic illnesses among the most vulnerable to the devastating effects of malnutrition and dehydration.
The UN and major human rights organisations have raised the alarm over soaring rates of starvation, after months of Israel’s near-total blockade of aid into the Gaza Strip left almost the entire population of 2.1 million Palestinians on the brink of famine, with medicine and fuel supplies now fully depleted.
Israel continues to block all but a trickle of aid into the Palestinian territory, with most food aid entering only through the controversial US-Israeli-backed private company - the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) - which has been widely condemned over the militarisation of aid through the deployment of US-based private security contractors.
The GHF has also faced scrutiny by the likes of the UN’s Palestinian refugees agency UNRWA and other aid groups over reports of Israeli forces reportedly operating heavily armed "distribution hubs" within Gaza, turning humanitarian aid delivery into a military-controlled operation with deadly consequences.