In one of the most horrific illustrations of war waged against civilians, reports continue to emerge of children dying from hunger in the besieged Gaza Strip, where starvation has become a deliberate weapon, claiming the lives of infants before they even get a chance at life.
On Saturday morning, the infant Hood Arafat died as a result of severe malnutrition and the lack of infant formula, bringing the number of children who have died from starvation in the Strip to three in less than 24 hours. The overall death toll from hunger now stands at 124, including 84 children.
According to medical sources from inside Gaza’s crumbling hospitals, the past 28 hours alone witnessed the deaths of 11 civilians due to starvation and a severe lack of food supplies. This comes as the Israeli occupation continues to enforce a brutal blockade that has turned Gaza into an open-air prison, where the population is subjected to a systematic campaign of mass starvation.
The tragedy is not limited to those who have died. Every day, hospitals receive more children suffering from life-threatening malnutrition. Estimates suggest that nearly 900,000 children in Gaza are facing hunger, with 70,000 already in a critical state.
Between March and June, the rate of acute malnutrition among children under the age of five has doubled, a sign of the accelerating humanitarian collapse. These figures point to a deliberate policy that falls under the definition of genocide by starvation, one of the gravest crimes under international law.
The occupation continues to block the entry of food and medical supplies, including baby formula, and intentionally delays the delivery of humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, Gaza’s residents are left to face their fate amidst a deadly international silence.
What is unfolding in Gaza constitutes a systematic act of genocide, where hunger is being weaponised as a means of collective punishment, with children as the primary victims, aimed at exhausting what remains of local communities’ ability to survive.
As children continue to die from starvation, the persistent international silence becomes a deeply troubling factor that only worsens the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Despite the rising death toll, international responses remain minimal and wholly disproportionate to the scale of the tragedy, with a glaring absence of any meaningful action to halt the ongoing starvation campaign.
This international void, at a time when one million children are under siege and denied food and medicine, reinforces the painful reality that Gaza’s population has been abandoned, left to face their fate in total isolation, with no protection and no accountability for those committing these crimes.
