Deaths from starvation across the Gaza Strip soar at a terrifying rate, according to local health officials, even as Israeli troops prepare for a major offensive on Gaza City and warplanes pound the community
Starvation deaths across the Gaza Strip are increasing with another ten Palestinians dying from hunger on Wednesday, health officials claim. Among the latest to starve to death were two children and it brings the number of people who have died of malnutrition to 313.
Among those who have died of starvation were 113 children, Palestinian health authorities in Gaza have reported. Gaza’s Government Media Office says starvation in Gaza is intensifying due to ongoing Israeli restrictions on food and aid deliveries. It said: “The Israeli occupation authorities continue to commit a systematic starvation crime against the population of the Gaza Strip.
“The number of victims of hunger and malnutrition has risen to 313 martyrs, including 119 children.” The Media Office noted that the Israeli army has closed all crossings and banned the entry of 430 essential food items.
In the past month, only 14 per cent of the required supplies were allowed in. Pope Leo XIV demanded Wednesday that Israel stop the “collective punishment” and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza as he pleaded for an end to the war.
It came as Israeli troops are preparing for a major ground offensive on Gaza City. He said: “I beg for a permanent ceasefire to be reached, the safe entry of humanitarian aid to be facilitated and humanitarian law to be fully respected.”
He cited international law protecting civilians and “the prohibition of collective punishment, indiscriminate use of force and the forced displacement of the population.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will launch its Gaza City offensive while simultaneously pursuing a ceasefire.
He has said the offensive is the best way to weaken Hamas and return hostages, but hostages’ families and their supporters have pushed back, saying it will further endanger them. It comes as Israel’s military is stepping up its assaults on Gaza City with tank and warplane bombardments, with attacks across the Strip killing 23 since dawn on Wednesday.
Entire apartment blocks have been levelled in Gaza as Israeli troops prepared to launch the ground offensive. So far Israel has killed at least 62,819 people and wounded 158,629 in its war on Gaza.
A total of 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war, and 250 were taken captive. Fifty hostages remain in captivity in the Strip, although less than 20 are believed still to be alive.
The Palestinian Authority has warned of a “dangerous escalation” by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank after a raid in the main city of Ramallah left 58 people injured. Israeli drone strikes on a southern suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus killed six soldiers and wounded others, state media and a war monitor reported on Wednesday.
The latest drone strikes occurred on Tuesday in the southern Damascus suburb of Kiswah and killed six soldiers, state-run Al-Ikhbariah reported, without giving further details.