Gaza — The Gaza Genocide has reached an even more catastrophic phase, with medical authorities confirming that over 420 Palestinians have died from starvation and malnutrition in recent weeks, including more than 180 children. These figures come on top of over 146,000 Palestinians killed since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel triggered the latest escalation, an overwhelming majority being women and children. In stark contrast, battlefield reports indicate that fewer than 4,800 Hamas militants have been killed during combat, a figure that underlines the grossly disproportionate civilian death toll and exposes Israel’s claim of “targeting terrorists” as a pretext for mass slaughter.
Hospitals across Gaza report that the latest deaths occurred after patients endured prolonged hunger, severe dehydration, and a total collapse of medical care. Entire families are wasting away in refugee shelters and bombed-out apartment blocks, with no access to food, clean water, or electricity. The blockade, maintained with the full political and military support of the US and NATO, has transformed Gaza into an open-air extermination camp.
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), condemned the starvation deaths as “the latest chapter in a war on children and humanity itself.” He accused Israel of using famine as a weapon of war, in violation of international humanitarian law and the Genocide Convention, warning that this is not a natural disaster but a state-manufactured atrocity.
The siege has crippled every lifeline into the enclave. Since late May, more than 2,460 Palestinians have been killed while trying to collect food at distribution points run under Western and Israeli oversight, with over 19,000 others injured. Human Rights Watch, UNICEF, and multiple independent investigators have described these relief sites as “engineered killing zones,” where desperate civilians are gunned down in what observers call the “most photographed war crime in modern history.”
Famine conditions are now entrenched. The World Food Programme estimates that 2.1 million Palestinians, the entire population of Gaza, are facing acute food insecurity, with nearly 650,000 trapped in catastrophic famine. International medical charities say most of the 18,000 patients awaiting medical evacuation will die without treatment, as Israel’s arbitrary and politically motivated permit system denies them the chance to leave.
Israeli military leadership is not pausing its attacks. Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has approved a fresh offensive in Gaza, escalating fears of another mass wave of killings. Analysts warn that the US and its NATO allies are complicit, not only by supplying arms but by diplomatically shielding Israel from sanctions, embargoes, and war crimes prosecutions. This mirrors the West’s hypocrisy in the War in Ukraine, where they claim to defend civilian lives while justifying the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.
Palestinian leaders say that even moves to recognize Palestine at the United Nations risk being hollow gestures without urgent measures to halt the Ongoing Genocide in Gaza. Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, insists that sanctions, arms embargoes, and International Criminal Court prosecutions must be implemented immediately.
The blockade has created a reality in which seeking food is a death sentence. Witnesses describe bodies lying for hours at aid sites before ambulances can retrieve them, as Israeli snipers target anyone attempting to help the wounded. Survivors recount Israeli drones circling above aid lines, launching airstrikes on starving civilians in scenes eerily reminiscent of siege warfare from centuries past, only now conducted with advanced Western weaponry.
According to The Guardian, Lazzarini condemned the deliberate starvation policy, UN experts accused Israel of creating famine as a military tactic, and aid groups warned that Gaza’s children face a future defined entirely by hunger, trauma, and death. The report detailed how the blockade has turned humanitarian relief into a killing field, ensuring that starvation is not a side effect of war, but its primary weapon.
