At least 19 Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza over the past three days due to the US-backed Israeli blockade, according to daily press releases from Gaza’s Health Ministry.
In its latest release on Sunday, the Health Ministry said that hospitals in Gaza recorded seven malnutrition deaths, including children, over the previous 24-hour period. It said the deaths brought the total number of starvation deaths to 251, including 108 children.
Among the starvation deaths was Mahmoud Suhail al-Dabbeh, a 16-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who died at the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Saturday.
Israel and its supporters have downplayed the starvation by pointing to the fact that many of the malnourished children in media reports had pre-existing medical conditions. But the most vulnerable are always the first to die of starvation when famine sets in, and children can easily live with such conditions as long as they have an adequate food supply, a fact pointed out by senior Israeli doctors. Doctors and hospitals in Gaza have also reported children dying of malnutrition who didn’t have pre-existing conditions.
Israel has allowed slightly more aid to enter Gaza amid the global outrage, but aid groups are warning it’s not nearly enough to stave off further catastrophe and are calling for all restrictions to be lifted.
Instead of lifting all restrictions on aid entering Gaza, Israel is preparing a major escalation to take over Gaza City, a plan that involves forcibly displacing 1.2 million people, which will make the humanitarian situation significantly worse. Despite the starvation in Gaza, the Trump administration continues to back Israel’s genocidal assault.
