'This war left us with nothing': Gazan father who lost half his body weight pleads for end to conflict

Around 180 people have now died of starvation

Five more people have died from hunger in Gaza, health authorities said on Monday, amid warnings that what's left of the medical sector can no longer carry the burden.

Gaza's health authorities said 180 people have now died of starvation – 93 of them children – under Israel's blockade of the coastal territory. It added that the total death toll of Israel's war now stands at 60,199.

Gaza’s medical and humanitarian situation has deteriorated drastically, with severe food shortages, soaring child malnutrition, and collapsing healthcare infrastructure.

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Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Al Shifa medical complex in Gaza city, said the situation has reached a breaking point.

“Every day, deaths due to malnutrition are being recorded in the Gaza Strip as a result of the deliberate starvation policy practised by the occupation,” Dr Abu Salmiya said.

He warned that Gaza's health system can no longer carry the burden. “We are overwhelmed,” he said. “We cannot keep up with the number of patients suffering from hunger-related complications.”

Gaza health officials say scores of people have died of starvation as food shortages take hold. EPA

One starving Gazan, 75-year-old Salim Asfour, has lost more than half his body weight during months of food shortages. “I can’t go to collect aid. I can’t even walk 10 metres,” he told The National.

“I have to lean on my son just to go to the bathroom. Even if I do manage to get there, how can I, a 75-year-old man, carry a bag of flour?"

As the humanitarian situation worsens, international efforts have included air drops of food and aid supplies. The UAE carried out its 61st aid flight on Sunday, with the help of Jordan, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy.

The UAE air drops “aim to deliver essential humanitarian aid to areas that are difficult to access by land due to the ongoing field conditions”, the state news agency Wam reported.

A Palestinian man carries folded cardboard boxes as he returns from a food distribution point. AFP

The UAE has called for humanitarian assistance to reach those in need in Gaza “through all available means”. Jordan's King Abdullah II last week described land crossings as “the main and most effective means to provide sufficient aid, in addition to air drops”.

On the ground, displaced families express growing despair at the humanitarian situation. Mohammed Abu Adghaem, a father of five currently in Al Naser, said the physically strong, or those with cars, are best-placed to get the food from air drops.

The message from Gaza is unified and urgent: open the land crossings.

“The only real solution is opening the crossings and flooding the market with aid,” said Ismail Al Thawabta, director of the Government Media Office in Gaza. “That aid must be distributed by organisations like UNRWA that know how to do it fairly, safely and with dignity.”