Gaza hospital says 21 children died from malnutrition and starvation in 72 hours

The head of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said on Tuesday that 21 children had died across the Palestinian territory in the past three days “due to malnutrition and starvation.”

“These deaths were recorded at hospitals in Gaza, including Al-Shifa in Gaza City, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis… over the past 72 hours,” Mohammed Abu Salmiya told reporters.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday evening that “the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing” in Gaza, and that there were growing reports of children and adults with malnutrition.

Abu Salmiya told reporters that new cases of malnutrition and starvation were arriving at Gaza’s remaining functioning hospitals “every moment.”

“We are heading towards alarming numbers of deaths due to the starvation inflicted on the people of Gaza,” he added.

After talks to extend a six-week ceasefire broke down, Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza on March 2 this year, allowing nothing in until trucks were again permitted at a trickle in late May.

But stocks accumulated during the ceasefire gradually depleted, leaving the territory’s more than two million inhabitants experiencing the worst shortages since the start of the war in October 2023.

World Food Program director Carl Skau, who visited Gaza City in early July, called the situation “the worst” that he had ever seen.

Last Sunday, Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that at least three infants died from “severe hunger and malnutrition” in the past week.

On Monday, more than two dozen countries, including Israeli allies Britain, France, Australia and Canada, urged an immediate end to the war, the release of hostages and the free flow of aid.