Malnutrition kills 66 children in Gaza due to Israeli siege

The number of children in Gaza who have died from acute malnutrition has risen to 66, according to officials in the besieged territory, as Israel's siege and continued military attack create what local health authorities call a deliberate and accelerating crisis.

The Government Media Office in Gaza blamed Israel's complete closure of border crossings and its ban on the entry of baby formula and nutritional supplements for the rise in deaths, warning that babies, children, and the ill are especially vulnerable.

"This conduct constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity, and reveals the deliberate use by the Israeli occupation of starvation as a weapon to exterminate civilians, particularly children, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions," the office said in a statement.

It condemned what it called "the ongoing crime against childhood in the Gaza Strip", denouncing "the shameful international silence" as children are "left as prey to hunger, disease, and slow death".

The statement held Israel fully responsible, but also named the US, UK, France, and Germany as complicit in what it called genocide, through their support for Israel's actions.

The office urged immediate international intervention to open crossings and allow food and medical supplies into Gaza "before it is too late".

According to Dr Marwan Al-Hams, Director General of Field Hospitals at Gaza's Ministry of Health, 144 children had died in neonatal care, 206 foetuses were lost in utero, 18 newborns died immediately after birth, and 58 cases of birth defects were recorded. More than 2,100 miscarriages occurred between January and May alone.

"56 percent of pregnant women in the sector suffer from malnutrition," Al-Hams warned, noting that the impact on mothers and foetuses will raise mortality rates further "as health and nutrition conditions continue to deteriorate".

The health system, already decimated by Israeli strikes, faces a 55 percent average shortage in medicines and medical supplies, along with critical fuel scarcity. "Limited quantities are arriving," said Al-Hams, "used only to save lives, with no strategic reserves in hospitals".

According to UNICEF, over 5,100 children aged six months to five years were treated for acute malnutrition in May - an increase of 50 percent from April and 150 percent from February, when aid was still entering under a ceasefire.

Of those, 636 children were found to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition - the deadliest form. UNICEF warned that without urgent treatment, clean water, and medical care, these children face death.

UNRWA added that the health response in Gaza faces "grave operational challenges, including significant damage to health facilities".

"Malnutrition and disease, if left untreated, create a deadly cycle," significantly raising children's risk of death, UNICEF concluded.