In one of the most harrowing examples of contemporary genocide, official figures released by the Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip reveal that 197 people have died from malnutrition since the start of the genocidal war in October 2023, including 96 children and 101 adults.
Deaths resulting from hunger and malnutrition have risen sharply as the assault continues. Four deaths were recorded in 2023, rising to 50 in 2024, before 2025 witnessed a tragic surge with 143 deaths so far; a stark indicator of the alarming acceleration of famine and its deadly consequences.
These figures serve as irrefutable evidence that the occupation is using hunger as a collective weapon against the population in a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, which explicitly prohibit the use of “starvation as a method of warfare.”
In this context, the United Nations has warned that acute malnutrition rates among children in Gaza have reached “the highest level ever recorded”, which raises an alert that reflects the sheer scale of the catastrophe facing the Palestinian people, unfolding in full view of the world and met with silence.
Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, stated that the crisis is particularly severe among children, noting that in July alone, 12,000 children under the age of five were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, including 2,500 at immediate risk of death.
This figure represents an 18% increase compared to June, confirming that the danger curve is rising steeply, with no effective intervention to halt the disaster.
The United Nations also pointed out that Israeli occupation restrictions on the distribution of aid have played a key role in worsening the crisis. In July, humanitarian workers were able to reach only 3% of children in need of food assistance, a number that starkly illustrates the deliberate tightening of access to food, and signals a clear intent to deepen the famine and weaponise it as a tool of genocide.
The genocidal crimes committed by the occupation in Gaza have continued since 7 October 2023, with unconditional US support and disturbing international silence.
The latest statistics show that the war has left more than 211,000 people dead or injured, most of them women and children, along with over 9,000 missing. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of displaced people are enduring catastrophic conditions in tattered tents, without clean water, healthcare, or sufficient food.
What is unfolding in Gaza is not merely a “humanitarian crisis,” as some try to portray it, but a systematic genocide in which every prohibited means is being employed, from indiscriminate bombing to forced displacement, from suffocating siege to starving civilians to death.
