The horrors of hunger and new deaths are a tough milestone in the conflict that began almost two years ago when Hamas attacked Israel.
Surveillance: UN holds two-state solution meeting without US Israel
The UN held a summit to promote the Palestinian state as the Gaza War intensifies and global pressures are on its way.
- Officials in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip say the war killed 60,000 Palestinians.
- Israel says 5,000 aid trucks entered Gaza in two months.
- The new Palestinian tolls do not distinguish between fighter jets and civilians. Thousands of bodies are thought to be buried under the tiled rub.
CAIRO – The worst-case scenario of hunger is unfolding in Gaza, with immediate action needed to avoid widespread deaths, and starvation monitors warned Tuesday as the number of Palestinians reportedly killed in the conflict with Israel exceeded the 60,000 threshold.
Hunger alerts and new deaths were a tough milestone in the conflict that began when Hamas attacked Israel almost two years ago, causing attacks that had wasteful and sparked hostilities on most of the enclaves throughout the region.
The integrated food security stage classification (IPC) alerts raised the prospect that Gaza’s artificial starvation crisis could be formally classified as hunger.
Starvation, malnutrition, illness
With growing international criticism, Israel announced steps over the weekend to facilitate aid access. However, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on July 29 that since Israel began its humanitarian halt on Sunday it has not obtained the necessary permits to provide sufficient aid.
“Expanding evidence shows that widespread hunger, malnutrition and disease are driving an increase in starvation-related deaths,” the IPC said, adding that “hunger thresholds” were achieved for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip.
It said it would soon carry out a formal analysis that could allow Gaza to be classified as “hunger.”
President Trump and Starge agree to Gaza’s humanitarian crisis
President Trump said in a meeting with British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer that he is focusing on putting food in Gaza.
For hunger to be declared, at least 20% of the population must suffer from extreme food shortages, and two out of 10,000 people who die every day from starvation, malnutrition or illness, two become severely malnutrited.
Gaza health officials have reported more and more people who die from hunger-related causes. The total was 147, of which there were 88 children, most of whom have died in the past few weeks.
The image of debilitating Palestinian children shocked the world, along with Israel’s strongest ally, President Donald Trump, by declaring many people starved. He has pledged to establish a new “food centre.”
Israel refused to pursue a hunger policy. Foreign Minister Gideon Saa said on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza was “severe” but there were lying about starvation.
The most fatal conflict
The 60,000 deaths announced by the Gaza Health Authority, often cited by the United Nations and previously said to be reliable by the World Health Organization, underscored this as the deadliest war in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Israeli group of Hamas Muslims (a deadly conflict in the past with the Hamas Muslim group that took control of Gaza in 2007) was in 2014 when 2,100 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, despite Israel losing 67 soldiers and six civilians.
Israel launched its latest attack in response to Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, when extremists killed around 1,200 people, Israel killed 1,200, the deadliest day, and garnered 251 more hostages.
The new Palestinian tolls do not distinguish between fighter jets and civilians. Thousands of more bodies are believed to be buried under the tiled rub, Palestinian officials and rescue workers said.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 30 Palestinians at Nusai Rat camps in central Gaza all night, according to Gaza health authorities. Doctors at Al-Awda Hospital said at least 14 women and 12 children were among the dead.
The hospital also said 13 people were killed and dozens were injured in an Israeli fire along Sarahdeen Road as it waited for the aid truck to roll into Gaza.
Gaza Health Authorities said a total of 55 Palestinians were killed in the overnight attack. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Fifty of the hostages seized on October 7 remained in Gaza, of which 20 are believed to be alive.
The latest talk aimed at securing a ceasefire and releasing hostages collapsed last week. Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would continue to fight until hostages were released and Hamas’s troops and governing capabilities were destroyed.
Only half of food aid has been approved
Saar said 5,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza in the last two months, and Israel will support those who want to implement airdrops.
Ross Smith, senior regional program advisor to the World Food Program, told reporters in Geneva on video.
“We can’t address the needs of our population unless we can move as much as we need.”
After 11 weeks of Israeli lockdown, limited, unused aid operations resumed on May 19th and a week later, the ambiguous new US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, supported by Israel and the US, began distributing food aid.
The efforts of rivals have sparked wars against Israel, the US, the GHF against the United Nations, international aid groups and dozens of governments around the world.
Israel and the United States accuse Hamas of stealing aid – extremists are denial – and the UN did not hinder it. The United Nations says Hamas has not seen any evidence that diverts much of the aid. Hamas accused Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon.
The IPC said 88% of Gaza are currently within evacuation orders or militarized regions and are critical of the GHF’s efforts.
Most GHF foods say “we need water and fuel to cook and are hardly available.”
The IPC Hungry Review Committee states, “Analysis of food packages offered by GHF shows that distribution plans lead to massive hunger.”
GHF said its aid box is based on the same ingredient list as other aid groups use and meets the criteria for total calories and nutritional value.
