48 Palestinians died from malnutrition in July: Gaza Health Ministry

Tel Aviv: Gaza’s health ministry has said 48 Palestinians have died of malnutrition this past month, adding that 59 Palestinians died of malnutrition so far in 2025, up from 50 in 2024, and four in 2023 when Israel started its war against the Hamas militant group in Gaza after its rampage in southern Israel on October 7.

In the most recent cases, a man and a woman died of malnutrition on Wednesday, the Shifa Hospital told The Associated Press. Of the 113 that died of malnutrition in Gaza since 2023, 81 were children, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Since Israel’s aid blockade in March, Gaza’s humanitarian situation has become dire, alarming international organisations. The United Nations World Food Programme has said 1,00,000 women and children are facing famine levels of starvation.

The International Rescue Committee said its teams in Gaza have reported a surge in cases of children being rushed to the hospital due to malnutrition.

“Their small bodies are shutting down, they can’t breathe, their immune systems are collapsing, and they are highly vulnerable to infection,” IRC’s acting director in the occupied Palestinian Territories, Scott Lea, said in a statement Wednesday.

“Their lives are hanging by a thread.”