Health authorities in Gaza said on Saturday morning, July 19, that Israeli occupation forces’ fire killed 26 people and wounded more than 100 near two aid centers of the US-Israel backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the latest deaths of Palestinians seeking food. Deaths of people waiting for handouts in huge crowds near food points in Gaza have become a regular occurrence, with the territory’s authorities frequently blaming Israeli fire.

In addition, medical sources at the Gaza Strip reported on Friday a surge in signs of famine, describing it as an “epidemic.” Hundreds of people are reportedly suffering from exhaustion, severe malnutrition and memory loss, all of which are symptoms of prolonged starvation. At Al-Shifa Hospital, officials said “hundreds of patients are arriving with severe hunger symptoms, including children and infants in critical condition.” A one-and-a-half-year-old girl died on Friday in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah due to severe malnutrition, amid a deepening hunger crisis caused by the Israeli blockade on the besieged Strip.

Injured Palestinians arrive Saturday morning at the already strained Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis after they were targeted by Israeli occupation forces while waiting to access food at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution sites in Tina Street in Rafah, July 19, 2025 (Photo: Activestills)

According to health officials, an estimated 17,000 children are currently suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza. The crisis is putting immense pressure on the already strained healthcare system, which is struggling with a lack of hospital beds and essential medicines.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) recently warned that child malnutrition has sharply worsened, especially among children under five. Between March and June 2025, UNRWA’s clinics conducted nearly 74,000 screenings, identifying approximately 5,500 cases of moderate acute malnutrition and over 800 cases of severe acute malnutrition.

After his latest visit to Gaza, World Food Programme’s Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Carl Skau, stated that starvation is spreading in Gaza, with about 500,000 people in starvation. “I met many of those families who told me that there are days that their children are not eating at all and I heard mothers telling me how they’re trying to have kids not play so that they don’t draw more energy than they are able to provide them with food,” Skau said. The WFP official noted that the fact that people are now dying every day trying to get food is “the starkest illustration of how desperate this situation is.” UNRWA attributed the alarming rise in malnutrition to the ongoing Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has severely restricted the flow of food, medicine, and humanitarian aid.

According to Hadash, “Israeli occupation in Gaza continues to kill and gravely injure hundreds of Palestinians each week, as they desperately seek the little shelter and food available, famine is increasing, and Israel is inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence in Gaza.”

“The unlawful limitations on the entry of food to Gaza and other items essential for the survival of the civilian population, the poor modes of operation at militarized and privatized distribution sites where people, mainly young men and boys, continue to be shot and killed are planned by the far-right government within a context of largely destroyed law enforcement and judicial systems, a fascist offensive in Israel, and the reinforcement of occupation in the West Bank”. Regarding “reported plans by Israeli authorities to concentrate much of the population in a so-called ‘humanitarian city’ – a concentration camp in destroyed Rafah,” Hadash called on to “refrain from taking any steps aimed the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population within Gaza or its deportation outside of the Strip.” A demonstration against war will be held at Habima Square in Tel-Aviv, next Thursday, July 24, by hostages’ relatives and mothers of soldiers. On Friday, July 25, another protest against war, starvation and genocide in Gaza will be held in Sakhnin sponsored by Partnership for Peace and Hadash.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32848