Eight more Palestinians, including a child, died of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s health authorities said Sunday, as Israel’s blockade continues to choke off supplies.
Munir al-Bursh, Director General of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said on X that the latest fatalities bring the death toll from hunger since October 2023 to 289, among them 115 children.
The announcement came just two days after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) formally declared a famine in Gaza. The IPC’s designation of Level 5 “catastrophic” hunger signals that the three defining thresholds of famine have been reached: severe food deprivation, widespread acute malnutrition, and deaths linked to starvation. All three are now present in the territory.
At least a quarter of Gaza’s population of more than 500,000 people are reportedly starving, with projections showing that number could rise to over 640,000 in the next six weeks.
Israel has rejected the IPC’s findings, accusing the system of being influenced by Hamas and insisting it is allowing enough food into Gaza.
But four UN agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organization, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and the World Health Organization – issued a joint statement on Friday stressing the “extreme urgency” of a full-scale humanitarian response, warning of rising hunger-related deaths, worsening malnutrition, and collapsing food access.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the crisis as a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment and a failure of humanity itself.” He called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages held by Hamas, and unfettered humanitarian access.
He added that Israel, as the occupying power, “has unequivocal obligations under international law, including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population.
“People are starving. Children are dying. And those with the duty to act are failing,” he said. “We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity.”
Israel’s restrictions on goods entering Gaza, in place for years, were tightened after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack. Since March 2025, the blockade has been near-total, deepening the humanitarian collapse.
According to Gaza’s health authorities, more than 62,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign since the war began. Entire neighborhoods have been leveled, and with famine now declared, the enclave faces what aid groups describe as one of the most severe humanitarian crises in recent memory.