bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

The head of Gaza’s largest hospital on Tuesday said 21 children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the past three days, while Israel pressed a devastating assault.
Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with residents frequently killed as they try to collect humanitarian aid at a handful of distribution points.
“Twenty-one children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in various areas across the Gaza Strip,” Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, told reporters.
Abu Salmiya told reporters that new cases of malnutrition and starvation were arriving at Gaza’s remaining functioning hospitals “every moment”.

“We are heading towards alarming numbers of deaths due to the starvation inflicted on the people of Gaza,” he added.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called Gaza a “horror show” in a speech on Tuesday, with “a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times”.
After talks to extend a six-week ceasefire broke down, Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza on March 2 this year, allowing nothing in until trucks were again permitted to enter at a trickle in late May.
However, stocks accumulated during the ceasefire have gradually depleted, leaving the territory’s inhabitants experiencing the worst shortages since the start of the war in October 2023.
Chaotic scenes have become frequent at aid distribution areas since the US-and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began overseeing aid operations.
The UN on Tuesday said Israeli forces had killed over 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the GHF began its operations.

“As of July 21, we have recorded 1,054 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 766 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organisations’ aid convoys,” UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes had killed 15 people, after the World Health Organization said Israel attacked its facilities amid its expanding ground operations.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that Israeli strikes on the al-Shati camp west of Gaza City had killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 50.
Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced at least once during the conflict, and the al-Shati camp – on the Mediterranean coast – hosts thousands of people displaced from the north in tents and makeshift shelters.
Raed Bakr, 30, lives with his three children and said he heard “a massive explosion” at about 1.40am on Tuesday, which blew their tent away.
“I felt like I was in a nightmare. Fire, dust, smoke and body parts flying through the air, dirt everywhere. The children were screaming,” Bakr said, whose wife was killed last year.

Reports of the latest death toll came as the Roman Catholic Church’s most senior cleric in the Holy Land said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “morally unacceptable”.
“We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal,” Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told a news conference in Jerusalem after visiting Gaza.
His visit came after an Israeli army strike on the only Catholic Church in the territory killed three people last week, prompting Pope Leo to condemn the “barbarity” of the war and the “indiscriminate use of force”.
The World Health Organization also sharply criticised the Israeli military.
The UN agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accused troops of entering its staff residence, and forcing women and children to evacuate, as they handcuffed, stripped and interrogated male staff at gunpoint.
The latest criticism of Israel came as its forces expanded ground operations in Deir el-Balah following intense shelling of the area in central Gaza on Monday.
The civil defence agency’s Bassal said two people were killed in Deir el-Balah.
Guterres said “devastation is being layered upon devastation” by the offensive.
The Israeli military said later its troops “identified shots being fired toward them in the Deir al-Balah area, and responded toward the area from which the shooting originated”.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were living in the area, which until now had been considered relatively safe.
Some 30,000 were living in displacement sites.
OCHA said nearly 88 per cent of the entire Gaza Strip was now either under evacuation orders or within Israeli militarised zones, forcing the population of 2.4 million into an ever-shrinking space.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Hamas’s 2023 attack, which sparked the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.


RSF says Israel killed highest number of journalists again this year

UN hits out at global ‘apathy’ as it slashes aid appeal for 2026

Trump UN envoy, EU chief in Jordan to discuss Gaza aid as Israel eyes next phase

Thai family to end long wait for Gaza hostage return: ‘we’ll bring him home’

Israel-Gaza war

Gaza ‘horror show’: 21 children die from starvation and malnutrition amid Israel offensive

Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City. Photo: Reuters

A malnourished Palestinian boy. Photo: Reuters

Palestinian children wait for a meal at a charity kitchen. Photo: AFP

Palestinians carry aid supplies. Photo: Reuters

WHO says Israeli military attacked staff residence and warehouse in Gaza

Illumination flares launched by the Israeli army over Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on Monday. Photo: AP

Israeli tanks in Gaza. Photo: Reuters

25 Western nations condemn Israel over ‘inhumane killing’ of civilians in Gaza

Smoke and flames rise from a residential building hit by an Israeli strike, in Gaza City on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Mourners at a funeral in Gaza City. Photo: Reuters

An Israeli military vehicle near the separation fence with Gaza. Photo: Reuters

Gaza war: 32 Palestinians killed as Israeli troops open fire at aid seekers

People mourn Palestinians who were killed in an incident while seeking aid in Khan Younis, on July 16. Photo: Reuters

People mourn Palestinians who were killed in an incident on July 16 while seeking aid. Photo: Reuters

Palestinians carry aid supplies from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis. Photo: Reuters

Gaza fatalities soar as UN says 875 Palestinians killed in 6 weeks near aid sites

People mourn the death of Palestinians who lost their lives while waiting for humanitarian aid at the Netzarim corridor. Photo: dpa

A Palestinian shouts to the camera in Arabic, “We get food with the taste of death and blood,” as he carries a bag containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah. Photo: AP

UN agency condemns ‘unacceptable’ Gaza violence after 93 killed seeking aid

Palestinians after carrying the bodies of those killed while trying to reach aid trucks entering northern Gaza. Photo: AP

Palestinians carry aid supplies in the northern Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters

Women during a funeral at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. Photo: AFP

A Sunday morning mass at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City. Photo: AFP

News

World

Middle East

Hospital director reports grim toll as UN says over 1,000 killed seeking aid in recent weeks


Hospital director reports grim toll as UN says over 1,000 killed seeking aid in recent weeks.


Gaza ‘horror show’: 21 children die from starvation and malnutrition amid Israel offensive

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hospital director reports grim toll as UN says over 1,000 killed seeking aid in recent weeks

Hospital director reports grim toll as UN says over 1,000 killed seeking aid in recent weeks