At least 10 people have died from starvation in Gaza over the past 24 hours, health officials said on Wednesday.
The deaths take the total to 111 Palestinians − including at least 80 children − killed by hunger since the start of the Israel-Gaza war almost 22 months ago, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
This came as more than 100 aid organisations and human rights groups, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that “mass starvation” was spreading in the Palestinian enclave.
Also on Wednesday, World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said a “large proportion” of the population of Gaza was starving. “I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation – and it's man-made,” he said.
Israel denied it was starving Palestinians and disputed the number of the dead. "In Gaza today there is no famine caused by Israel," government spokesman David Mencer told reporters. "There is a man-made shortage engineered by Hamas."
On Tuesday, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city, said 21 children had died from malnutrition and starvation in the previous three days.
The plight of Gazans trying to collect aid is worsened by the dangers involved. The UN said this week that since late May, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while waiting for supplies.
On Wednesday, four people were killed by Israeli forces near a distribution point in the central Wadi Gaza area, reported official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Gaza city resident Hassouna Al Badri told The National that hunger is forcing desperate people to risk their lives and gather at aid centres rumoured to be receiving flour shipments. But securing supplies is still not guaranteed.
“I stayed there for hours but I came back home empty-handed,” he said. “People were pushing each other, they don’t care what’s around them. Even with gunfire everywhere, people are desperate, they are hungry and have no other options.”
Mr Al Badri said he would not take the risk again, despite the dire food situation.
On the market, one kilogram of flour costs about 70 shekels ($21). “I can't afford that every two days,” he said. “We need a mechanism that guarantees aid reaches the warehouses of international organisations. Otherwise, we’ll never get our share.”
Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, where more than two million people are facing severe food shortages.
It flatly denies blocking the entry of supplies, claiming on Wednesday that aid from 700 lorries is inside Gaza and ready for international agencies to collect and distribute it.
The Foreign Ministry also said “close to 4,500 lorries entered Gaza, including flour for bakeries and 2,500 tonnes of baby food and high-calorie special food for children”, without specifying the period in which these deliveries took place.
However, humanitarian organisations say many warehouses filled with aid are just outside the territory and subject to Israeli entry controls. For warehouses inside Gaza, the NGOs are blocked from accessing and delivering the supplies, they say.
Israel has also denied the claims of large-scale starvation, accusing Hamas of looting aid and blocking its distribution. But the UN says Israel's restrictions and rejections of permits are the main reason for mounting stockpiles at border crossings.
The UN said on Tuesday that 1,054 people have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to obtain food since late May. It said 766 people were killed while heading to sites run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The UN and NGOs have refused to be involved in GHF operations, with senior officials describing them as “death traps”.
Gaza city resident Um Mohannad Filfil, 55, had one son killed and another injured while trying to bring home a sack of flour. The mother of six also lost her husband to an air strike earlier in the war.
“After I lost my son, I will never let my other son go again to bring flour,” she said through tears. “I can’t afford the prices of food any more. What should we do? I don’t even have a place to stay after losing my home and business.
“I need to take care of my wounded son, I must think about how to feed my family. We need the world to see us, to save us.”
The UN’s efforts to co-ordinate aid have been curtailed, especially with growing restrictions on the organisation's Palestinian agency UNRWA, which has extensive experience and infrastructure from large-scale distribution work in Gaza since 1948.
Abed Al Raheem Nazer, 60, believes the only group that can manage aid distribution is UNRWA. “Other organisations lack the trust and capacity,” the Gaza city resident said.
“My son tried to reach the lorries, but he couldn’t get any flour. The crowds were massive and the area was too dangerous. If things continue like this, I don’t know how we will manage to get food.”
As the situation worsens, the international community faces growing pressure to act. But for families like Ms Filfil’s, any solution may come too late.
“What is happening can’t be imagined,” she said. “This war must end. We need help, real help, before more of us are lost.”
