57 Deaths from Malnutrition in Gaza Amid Crippling Israeli Blockade

in Palestine

by Quds News Network

04/05/2025

Gaza (Quds News Network)- At least 57 people, the majority of whom were children, sick, and elder people, have died from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli genocide in October 2023, as Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian enclave enters its third month.

Since March 2, Israel has closed Gaza’s main crossings, halting the flow of food, medical aid, and other humanitarian supplies. This blockade has caused a severe and unprecedented decline in living conditions, with human rights organizations accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinians.

A statement by the Gaza Government Media Office on Saturday confirmed that the number of deaths from malnutrition is expected to increase as the crossings into Gaza remain closed and the entry of aid, baby formula and nutritional supplements have been prevented by Israel.

It added that the vast majority of victims were children as well as sick and elderly people.

It said: “We condemn in the strongest terms the continued use of food by the Israeli occupation as a weapon of war and its imposition of a stifling blockade against more than 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip by completely closing the crossings for the 63rd consecutive day.”

The Office called on “the international community, humanitarian organisations and human rights organisations to take immediate and effective action and exert pressure by all means to open the Rafah border crossing and all other crossings.”

On Saturday, a baby girl, identified as Janan Saleh al-Sakafi, died of malnutrition and dehydration in the Rantisi Hospital, west of Gaza City.

Israel also resumed its genocide in Gaza on March 18 after violating the ceasefire agreement signed in January, killing over 2,200 Palestinians and wounding more than 5,700—mostly children and women, according the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned of humanitarian catastrophe, with the enclave on the brink of “full-scale famine conditions.”

On Friday, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for the Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said the Israeli siege is collectively punishing children, women, older people and men in Gaza.

The UN’s World Food Programme said last week that its food supplies had been “depleted” amid the siege, warning that community kitchens upon which thousands of Palestinians rely would be forced to close.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians of all ages are experiencing high levels of food insecurity in Gaza, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, a global hunger watchdog.

Children in the enclave have not only faced relentless bombardment, but are also being deprived of essential goods, services and lifesaving care, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement on Friday.

“With each passing day of the aid blockade, they face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death – nothing can justify this,” Russell said. “The sea they used for fishing has been restricted. Bakeries are closing, water production is declining, and market shelves are almost bare.”

In the past month, she said, families have been forced to choose between showering, cleaning, and cooking as access to water is quickly deteriorating.
Vaccines are also running out, Russell warned, and diseases are spreading rapidly.

“Malnutrition is also on the rise,” she said, adding that more than 9,000 children have been admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition since the beginning of the year.

On Saturday, Dr. Munir al-Bursh, the General Director of the Ministry of Health, announced that Gaza has entered the fifth phase of famine. This phase poses the greatest danger to the lives of residents and means witnessing cases of mass deaths.

“We have seen a doubling in child mortality under the age of five, rising from 13 deaths per 1,000 children to 32 per 1,00”, al-Bursh said. “We call on the UN Security Council to declare a state of famine in Gaza and to open humanitarian corridors to deliver food and medicine.”

Gaza Enters Fifth Phase of Famine as Israel Continues to Block Aid for Third Month

Gaza has entered the fifth phase of famine, according to Moneer Al-Boursh, the General Director of the Ministry of Health. This phase poses the greatest danger to the lives of residents and means witnessing cases of mass deaths. The Israeli blockade continues to prevent essential supplies of food, medicine, and water from entering the strip.

“We have seen a doubling in child mortality under the age of five, rising from 13 deaths per 1,000 children to 32 per 1,00”, Al-Boursh said.  “We call on the UN Security Council to declare a state of famine in Gaza and to open humanitarian corridors to deliver food and medicine.”

Earlier this morning, baby girl named Janan Saleh al-Sakafi had died of malnutrition and dehydration at Rantisi Hospital, west of Gaza City. Since the onset of the ongoing Israeli genocide in October 2023, 57 people have died from malnutrition, as reported by Gaza’s Government Media Office.

The medical community in Gaza warns that the situation is critical. Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis stated that children are experiencing severe malnutrition, making medical follow-up difficult due to a lack of treatment supplies. The ongoing blockade indicates a catastrophic future for the children of Gaza.

Since March 2, Israel has closed Gaza’s main crossings, halting the flow of food, medical aid, and all humanitarian supplies. This blockade has led to a severe decline in living conditions. Human rights organizations stress that Israel uses starvation as a weapon of war against the Palestinian people.

The situation escalated further when Israel resumed its attacks on Gaza on March 18, violating a ceasefire agreement. Over 2,200 Palestinians have died, and more than 5,700 have been injured, with children and women bearing the brunt of the Israeli attacks.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe, stating that Gaza is on the brink of “full-scale famine conditions.” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), highlighted that the Israeli siege collectively punishes children, women, and the elderly.

The UN’s World Food Programme reported last week that its food supplies have been “depleted” amid the siege. Community kitchens, vital for thousands of Palestinians, face closure. Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are experiencing high levels of food insecurity, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

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Israel subjects northern Gaza to one of the most violent campaigns of its genocide; international intervention required

in Palestine

by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

09/10/2024

Palestinian Territory – An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is imminent as the Israeli occupation tightens its siege on the Jabalia camp and Beit Lahia project in the northern Gaza Strip for the fourth consecutive day. Israel is accelerating the pace of its genocide against the Palestinians there by carrying out mass and planned killings, as well as widespread forced displacements. The international community, led by the United Nations, must act swiftly and decisively to save 10s of thousands of residents who are being subjected to one of the most violent campaigns of genocide the Strip has ever witnessed.

Israeli occupation forces have intensified their siege of the Jabalia camp and the surrounding neighborhoods, including Tal al-Zaatar, al-Sikka, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia. The Israeli forces have also taken up positions in the western region of the Gaza Strip, advancing as far as the Jaffa Cemetery and the Tawam Junction.

With airstrikes, fire belts, and artillery shelling—including bombing homes over the heads of their occupants—the Israeli occupation forces have been occupying large portions of northern Gaza since Saturday evening, 5 October. Dozens of people have been killed and injured as a result of this ongoing invasion.

Initial reports confirmed that five citizens—including a woman, a man, and his son—were executed by the occupation forces for trying to escape the Jabalia camp while waving white flags.

In an extremely dangerous development, Israeli army forces ordered the complete evacuation of Kamal Adwan Hospital, located in the Beit Lahia project, north of Gaza. Kamal Adwan Hospital’s director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, reported that he received a call from the occupation forces telling him that if he did not get the patients and medical staff out of the hospital within a day, they would be put in danger.

Along with two other hospitals in northern Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital and the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia, Kamal Adwan Hospital is partially operational after being raided and destroyed in the Israeli military’s first invasion of northern Gaza last December, during which the hospital’s medical staff, patients, and displaced persons were severely mistreated by the occupation forces. Kamal Adwan Hospital is currently being besieged by Israeli quadcopter aircraft for the second day in a row, with smoke bombs being detonated at its gate and dozens of raids on nearby buildings.

The sole road that ambulances used to move dozens of seriously injured patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital to the Baptist Hospital has been cut off, following an Israeli bombing of a building in the vicinity. This was followed by the occupation forces’ tightening of the siege on the hospital, and the blocking of ambulances and any other methods of victim transport.

Earlier today, the occupation forces arrested a paramedic who was transporting patients from the Kamal Awdan Hospital to the Baptist Hospital, despite prior coordination with Israeli authorities.

The Euro-Med Monitor field team received testimonies from citizens, who were able to reach Gaza City, about witnessing dead bodies lying in the streets. The citizens also stated that they saw victims trapped beneath the debris of bombed-out houses, and that ambulance and civil defense crews were unable to reach the area as at least 20 houses were targeted by Israeli forces in a four-day period.

Thousands of people trapped in the Jabalia and Beit Lahia camps are suffering from a near-total shortage of food supplies, which were already scarce due to Israel’s closure of the border crossings. The limited amount of goods and other aid that had previously been allowed to enter the area was blocked by Israel for more than a week prior to the new invasion.

Numerous families remain stuck in their homes, enduring harsh living conditions under the intensified and brutal Israeli bombing. Citizens are not even able to leave their homes in order to obtain water, and municipal crews and local committees are unable to assist them. As a result, thousands of residents face the threat of starvation, dehydration, or death, knowing full well that they are all victims of the catastrophic effects of malnutrition brought on by Israel’s year-long starvation policy.

The Israeli army is systematically working to empty northern Gaza of its residents and force them to move to the south, recently issuing several evacuation orders and dropping leaflets demanding their evacuation.

It is clear that the Israeli army’s latest operation has no military objective or necessity; rather, it is intended to finish the destructive operations that, during three prior incursions, have affected over 85% of the buildings in northern Gaza. Additionally, it is intended to target civilians and force them to flee the area, converting it into a full military zone.

Salah al-Din Road is now blocked from the Civil Administration side by an Israeli military checkpoint, and anyone attempting to use it to leave the camp is being searched. This afternoon, a paramedic was arrested despite prior coordination with the Red Cross, which belies Israel’s claims about the existence of “safe routes” for displaced people heading south.

The forcible deportation of a population is defined as a crime against humanity under the statute of the International Criminal Court, and the United Nations and the international community must intervene immediately to save 10s of thousands of Palestinian residents in northern Gaza who face ethnic cleansing by Israel. Furthermore, the UN and international community have a legal and moral obligation to put an end to the horrific crime of genocide being committed by the Israeli occupation for the second year in a row now.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is a Geneva-based independent organization with regional offices across the MENA region and Europe

Tags:

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Gaza, Palestine

COUNTER CURRENTS

Blinken Faces Calls to Resign Over Lie That Israel Is Not Blocking Gaza Aid BLINKEN LIED!

 GAZA STARVATION, BLOCKING HUMANITARIAN AID, BLOCKING CLEAN WATER, 

BLOCKING MEDICAL SUPPLIES, BLOCKING POLIO VACCINES...GAZA GENOCIDE!

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference in Annapolis, Maryland on August 6, 2024.

 (Photo: Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images)

Blinken Faces Calls to Resign Over Lie That Israel Is Not Blocking Gaza Aid

"When a senior American official lies to Congress in the middle of genocide so that the government can keep funding that genocide, he is deliberately flouting the law and prolonging the suffering of millions of innocent people."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced calls to resign on Tuesday following a ProPublica report detailing how he contradicted the findings of his own department's experts in order to maintain the flow of American weaponry to Israel, which has repeatedly used the arms to commit war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

"Secretary Blinken and the Biden administration ignored Israel's blocking of humanitarian aid to the suffering people of Gaza—which is a violation of American law—and lied about it to Congress," said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "When a senior American official lies to Congress in the middle of genocide so that the government can keep funding that genocide, he is deliberately flouting the law and prolonging the suffering of millions of innocent people who desperately need our government to stop funding their slaughter."

"He must resign," Awad added, "and the Biden administration must be held accountable for its violation of the law and its complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza."

"The American people deserve honest and upright leaders to represent their values and protect their interests."

ProPublica's story provides a thorough account—backed by internal communications and other documents—of how the Blinken-led State Department delivered a report to Congress that was at odds with the conclusions of experts within the department as well as those of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The latter agency told Blinken directly in an April memo that Israel was deliberately impeding shipments of U.S. humanitarian assistance, a finding consistent with assessments from the United Nations and outside groups. Under U.S. law, the federal government cannot provide arms or other military equipment to countries obstructing American humanitarian aid.

But in a May report to Congress, the State Department concluded that the Israeli government was not "prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance within the meaning of Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act."

One State Department official, Stacy Gilbert, resigned over the final report to Congress, saying in a statement following her departure that "there is abundant evidence showing Israel is responsible for blocking aid" and that "to deny this is absurd and shameful."

The aid obstructions are ongoing. According to an analysis released last week by a coalition of human rights organizations, Israel's siege is currently blocking over 80% of food aid from reaching Gaza as the enclave faces famine.

Awad of CAIR said Tuesday that "Secretary Blinken may have committed a crime with his lies."

"The American people deserve honest and upright leaders to represent their values and protect their interests," said Awad.

Others echoed the call for Blinken to step down or be removed by lawmakers. Congressional Republicans are currently pushing to hold Blinken in contempt, but for a matter entirely unrelated to U.S. support for Israel's war on Gaza.

Sam Perlo-Freeman, an academic who has worked as a researcher for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said Blinken "should resign or be impeached."

"Of course," he added, "most of Congress was very happy to be lied to and would have denounced Blinken for the truth."

COMMON DREAMS

 

Israel tightens restrictions on food, medicine at Gaza crossings

in Palestine

 by Nora Barrows-Friedman

03/09/2024

Israel doubled denials of humanitarian aid, including food, into Gaza in August. 

 Omar AshtawyAPA images

Gauze, diapers and antibiotics.

Kitchen utensils, baby formula, fresh vegetables and shampoo.

These basic supplies are included among a long list of items that Israel has restricted entry into Gaza for months, as diseases and hunger soar across the coastal enclave.

Historically, such items and similar essentials have been banned or restricted entry into Gaza during Israel’s 17-year-long siege.

But humanitarian aid agencies are warning that nearly 11 months into Israel’s genocidal attacks, Palestinians in Gaza are at a breaking point.

In August, Israel almost doubled its previous rate of denials of entry to humanitarian aid missions, compared with July, according to the United Nations.

Aid groups say that approximately 1,600 trucks full of essential medicines, health and hygiene supplies and food are currently stuck at crossing points along the Gaza boundary with “no progress” on their movement.

Israel’s repeated and incessant displacement orders, which are pushing Palestinians into an ever-shrinking corner of Gaza, have also impacted storage warehouses for humanitarian aid, the organizations say.

“Numerous warehouses, including four UN and one HI [Handicap International] warehouse, have reported that their locations are no longer within the ‘humanitarian zone,’ leaving them with no space to store supplies being shipped into Gaza,” the groups state.

Additionally, the severe damage to key infrastructure including roads, water and sanitation – along with the risks of unexploded ordnance – have impeded or prevented deliveries of humanitarian aid altogether.

On Friday, more than two dozen international aid organizations warned of an “imminent collapse of the humanitarian response in Gaza, which would leave millions of civilians without aid.”

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières reported on 27 August that for three months, the organization’s Gaza team has been trying to import 4,000 hygiene kits containing “basic everyday items such as soap, toothbrushes, shampoo and laundry powder,” adding that the scarcity of such essentials have made them prohibitively expensive for people in Gaza to buy.

“For three months, importation of these kits has been blocked by the Israeli authorities,” the medical group stated.

In mid-August, Gaza’s government media office held a press conference marking the 100th consecutive day of Israel’s closure and destruction of the Rafah crossing.

The office estimated that more than 1,000 children, patients and injured people have been killed as a direct result of the crossing’s closure and the consequential lack of access to live-saving medical care or humanitarian teams who can deliver necessary food, medicine and supplies.

Starvation as a weapon

Israel’s restrictions on food deliveries into Gaza, amid its expanding displacement orders, are accelerating its policy of engineered starvation as collective punishment.

The Gaza government media office stated on 20 August that Israel and its US counterparts “are explicitly using the policy of starvation and food denial against civilians in the Gaza Strip as a means of political pressure, and this constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity.”

With the closure of the Rafah crossing at the Egyptian border since 7 May, Israel “is exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe in an unprecedented manner” with “the green light of the United States,” the media office noted.

Delays at the few open crossings have impacted the entry of fresh food into Gaza. Aid groups say that vegetables “continue to be denied entry at key crossings such as Zikim and meat on cold chain trucks continues to remain held up pending approval.”

Hanady Muhiar from the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, stated that due to Israel’s forced displacement orders, its staff had to repeatedly suspend water distribution operations.

“Palestinians in Gaza are under constant bombardment from Israeli air strikes and lack of access to food, water and lifesaving medical supplies,” Muhiar said.

The World Food Programme warned this week that it has had to “reduce the contents of food parcels in Gaza as inflows of aid dipped and supplies dwindled” over the last two months.

The agency added that approximately half of the required food assistance entered Gaza in July, and that “August is set to end with a similar result.”

WFP said that when the rainy season starts, roads that are already damaged by the war “will become unusable” when rain and floods are expected.

“Alongside the desperate needs of today, we must think about what’s coming,” stated WFP’s Antoine Renard.

“We won’t be able to bring food to the people of Gaza unless urgent repairs are done on these roads. We must be able to bring in the heavy machinery that is needed and work with communities so we have the labor to fix the roads before the rain comes.”

Meanwhile, Israel continues to attack and target UN convoys inside Gaza.

https://twitter.com/Raminho/status/1828862852473491485/history

On 28 August, Israeli forces opened fire at a clearly-marked World Food Programme vehicle, which was part of a convoy whose movements had been fully coordinated with the Israel army.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that the vehicle was struck 10 times and that no response was received from the Israeli military when it was questioned over the attack.

Polio vaccinations amid uncertainty

Abdul Rahman Abu Al-Jidyan, a 10-month-old child, has contracted the first confirmed case of polio in Gaza. (Naaman Omar/APA images)

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, along with several United Nations agencies, is preparing to begin a mass vaccination campaign against the polio virus, which was detected in June and confirmed in Gaza in July.

The highly contagious disease mainly affects young children and serious cases can lead to permanent paralysis and death.

A 10-month-old child in a displacement camp in Deir al-Balah was the first confirmed case of the type 2 polio virus, the first in 25 years in Gaza.

The baby is already partially paralyzed.

Beginning on 1 September, health agencies will attempt to administer the first of a two-round series of oral vaccines in central Gaza, where more than half of the entire population is now concentrated.

Vaccine campaigns will then begin across areas in southern Gaza and northern Gaza.

More than 1.2 million doses of an oral polio vaccine have been delivered to Gaza, with 400,000 additional doses scheduled to arrive.

Rik Peeperkorn, a representative of the World Health Organization, stated that nearly 400 sites across Gaza will be open for parents or caregivers to bring their children to receive the vaccine over the next several weeks.

COGAT, the bureaucratic arm of Israel’s military occupation, claimed that the vaccination campaigns will be coordinated with eight-hour “pauses” in attacks.

But medical experts are deeply concerned that these “pauses,” if they even materialize, won’t make a dent in the overall health of Palestinians, especially children, without an immediate and full end to Israel’s genocidal attacks.

Reuters acknowledged that “the pauses in fighting will not cover the entirety of each zone” specified for vaccination sites.

According to a map seen by the news agency – sourced from COGAT – “the pause will take place in a smaller area within each zone.”

The plans for sporadic “pauses” – sandwiched between routine, daily massacres and widespread destruction – are “a bare minimum. And it isn’t a pause,” Dorotea Gucciardo of the Glia Project, a medical organization, told The Electronic Intifada.

Gucciardo explained that “It’s no strikes in areas where the vaccine will be rolled out within specific hours. Basically it’s asking Israel to respect international law by not attacking health care, healthcare sectors or people seeking healthcare.”

Gucciardo worked in Gaza earlier this year.

“Meanwhile, this genocide continues,” she said.

“And the kids we are trying to prevent getting this devastating disease are still at high risk of getting killed, maimed, losing family members, losing loved ones, their communities – and if they survive, they have to deal with the mental trauma of never-ending violence over the last 11 months of genocide.”

Nora Barrows-Friedman is a staff writer and associate editor at The Electronic Intifada, and is the author of In Our Power: US Students Organize for Justice in Palestine (Just World Books, 2014).

Originally published in Electronic Intifada