A number of Palestinians, including a baby, died on Tuesday as a result of Israeli-enforced starvation in the Gaza Strip, where a deepening humanitarian crisis continues to unfold alongside relentless airstrikes.

According to local reports, four more Palestinians died from hunger in the past few hours: an infant in northern Gaza, one person in the central Strip, and a 14-year-old child alongside a woman in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The Gaza Ministry of Health confirmed that, over the past 24 hours alone, 15 people, including four children, died due to malnutrition and starvation. This brings the total number of deaths from hunger-related causes to 101, among them at least 80 children.

Dr. Fadel Naeem, Director of Al-Ahli (Baptist) Hospital in Gaza, told AFP that medical teams, including doctors, technicians, and administrative staff, are themselves enduring extreme deprivation.

“Our staff continue working to save the lives of injured civilians and patients, while their own bodies are falling apart,” said Naeem. “They are starving, deprived of food, sleep, and rest.”

Mounting civilian death toll from starvation

As the Israeli siege and bombardment continue, conditions in Gaza are deteriorating rapidly. The rising number of deaths from starvation and direct attacks on starved Palestinians seeking aid underscores the devastating impact of "Israel’s" genocide and the severe humanitarian crisis gripping the territory.

In a related context, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) issued a stark warning on Monday about the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, revealing that doctors, journalists, and aid workers are now collapsing from hunger and exhaustion while trying to carry out their duties.

Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said his agency has received dozens of emergency alerts from its staff operating under extreme duress in the war-ravaged enclave.

“No one is spared: caretakers in Gaza are also in need of care. Doctors, nurses, journalists, and humanitarians are hungry,” Lazzarini stated. “Many are now fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties, reporting atrocities, or alleviating suffering.”

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UNRWA slams US-backed aid system as 'sadistic death trap'

Lazzarini delivered a blistering critique of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial US-backed aid initiative launched in late May. The system, which operates outside the UN-coordinated humanitarian structure and relies heavily on private US security contractors, has become the target of mounting criticism from rights groups and aid agencies.

He described the GHF as a “sadistic death trap,” stressing that “snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they are given a license to kill.”

According to UNRWA estimates, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food under the GHF framework. The UN previously confirmed 875 deaths in aid-related massacres within six weeks of GHF’s rollout, most near distribution points, with an additional 201 fatalities recorded along other aid convoy routes. 

Neither Israeli officials, including the Foreign Ministry, COGAT (the military unit overseeing aid logistics), nor GHF spokespeople were immediately available for comment. GHF has previously denied the allegations, accusing the UN of spreading misinformation. UNRWA, in turn, firmly rejected those claims.

WFP: Gaza’s hunger crisis reaches catastrophic level

Ross Smith, Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the UN World Food Programme (WFP), echoed Lazzarini’s alarm during a press briefing on Monday, declaring that Gaza’s hunger emergency has entered a catastrophic new stage.

“A third of the population is not eating for multiple days in a row,” Smith said, speaking from Rome. He addressed journalists in New York following a deadly incident on Sunday, where scores of Palestinians were killed while awaiting food during a WFP convoy operation in northern Gaza.

“Yesterday’s incident is one of the greatest tragedies we’ve seen for our operations in Gaza—and elsewhere. It was completely avoidable. It’s an absolute tragedy,” Smith said.

Famine conditions grip 2.1 million people

According to WFP assessments, a quarter of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents are facing famine-like conditions, with nearly 100,000 women and children suffering from severe acute malnutrition requiring urgent treatment.

“People are dying every day from lack of humanitarian assistance,” Smith said. “And we are seeing this escalate day by day.”

He underscored that food aid remains the only viable lifeline for Gaza’s population. However, the current aid volume, less than 10% of what is required, is vastly insufficient. Smith warned that humanitarian operations need secure crossings, safe internal routes, and more than 100 trucks of aid per day to begin meeting basic needs.

“We need to keep armed actors away from food distribution points, away from convoys, and out of the movement corridors. Aid must reach people where they are, not in predetermined locations,” Smith emphasized.

While WFP has reached some “agreements in principle” with relevant parties on aid delivery, Smith lamented that there has been almost no adherence in practice, which he said lies at the heart of repeated civilian deaths during aid operations.

He concluded with an urgent appeal for a ceasefire, calling it essential to deliver the scale of assistance Gaza requires.