Starvation deaths are climbing daily in Gaza as Israel’s 23-month blockade and relentless attacks drive a man-made famine into homes and tents.
As of September 19, the known number of people who have starved to death, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, reached at least 440 people, including 147 children.
The global hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), has confirmed a famine in the Gaza governorate as conditions in the North Gaza governorate, which includes cities like Beit Hanoon and Jabalia, are estimated to be just as severe or even worse.
But the IPC said it was unable to provide a food security classification for North Gaza due to limited data, highlighting an urgent need for access and assessments in the area.
The body said it had also not carried out an analysis of Rafah governorate in southern Gaza, where Israeli military operations have caused widespread devastation, “given indications that it is largely depopulated”.
The IPC snapshot said that as of August 15, more than 281,000 people in Gaza governorate – representing 30 percent of the population – are experiencing Phase 5 levels of food insecurity, the highest rating.
More than 468,000 people, or 50 percent of the governorate’s population, were classified as experiencing Phase 4, or emergency levels.
Conditions are expected to worsen with famine conditions projected to expand to the governorates of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza and Khan Younis in the south by the end of September.
Why is there not enough food in Gaza?
From March to mid-May, Israel fully sealed Gaza’s crossings, preventing food, water and humanitarian aid from entering. The blockade created extreme shortages, pushing Gaza’s already fragile population into severe hunger and dehydration.
On August 14, more than 100 aid organisations – including Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International and the Norwegian Refugee Council – condemned Israel’s weaponisation of aid, saying it was obstructing lifesaving assistance from entering Gaza.
Vast quantities of relief supplies are stranded in warehouses across Jordan and Egypt while Palestinians continue to starve.
On Monday, the rights group Amnesty International accused Israel of enacting a “deliberate policy” of starvation in Gaza and of “systematically destroying the health, wellbeing and social fabric of Palestinian life”.
“It is the intended outcome of plans and policies that Israel has designed and implemented, over the past 22 months, to deliberately inflict on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction – which is part and parcel of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” Amnesty said.
Gaza had been dependent on aid long before the war, given a blockade that Israel imposed beginning in 2007.
Before the start of the war on October 7, 2023, about 500 aid trucks entered daily, or nearly 15,000 a month. Since then, deliveries have fluctuated drastically, rarely reaching the pre-war levels needed to sustain the territory’s 2.1 million residents.
When does malnutrition become deadly?
The human body relies on glucose from food to survive. When food is scarce, it first burns fat to keep the heart beating, but prolonged hunger eventually causes organ failure, which can lead to death.
Prolonged malnutrition also causes brain fog and difficulty thinking or speaking, affecting daily functioning.
Children are most at risk because starvation quickly damages their growing bodies and organs.
The first 1,000 days of a child’s life from pregnancy up to two years of age are critical for a child’s development.
Malnutrition, especially during this time, can have devastating, long-lasting effects that hinder cognitive and physical development. In some cases in which nutrition treatments and therapies are not administered, it can prove fatal.
In Gaza, where food shortages have been severe for months, more and more images are emerging of children in the “red” zone on MUAC tapes, which measure the circumference of the upper arm to assess malnutrition.
A measurement below 11.5cm (4.5 inches) signals severe acute malnutrition. These children require emergency treatment, and without it, they face a high risk of death.
Other than the visible signs of extreme thinness, children suffering from severe malnutrition may show physical traits such as sunken, pale eyes, flaky skin, loss of hair and a swollen belly caused by oedema – fluid build-up in the body due to severe protein deficiency.
How is famine measured?
Famine is the worst level of hunger and occurs when people face severe food shortages, widespread malnutrition and high levels of death due to starvation.
Assessing the situation in Gaza is difficult because access to the enclave is severely restricted and Israel has destroyed nearly all its health facilities. According to IPC, famine is when:
- At least 20 percent of households face extreme food shortages.
- Acute malnutrition affects more than 30 percent of the population.
- Death rate exceeds two deaths per 10,000 people per day.
