At least ten people have died from starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours, as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that famine is now underway across the territory. The IPC, a panel of UN-backed experts, said the “worst-case scenario of famine” is playing out, with 2.2 million people facing catastrophic hunger.
Parents described watching their children waste away. Jamil Mughari, a 38-year-old from Maghazi in central Gaza, said all his children have lost nearly half their body weight. His five-year-old daughter weighs just 11kg, and his son Mohammad has become “skin and bones”. Mughari said food is almost nonexistent, with families sometimes going a week or two without flour and surviving on one meal of lentils a day.
The official Palestinian death toll has passed 60,000, but the real figure is likely far higher, including those buried under rubble from Israeli airstrikes. The human cost is expected to rise steeply as starvation joins bombs and gunfire as a leading cause of death. The IPC has called for a ceasefire to prevent further “catastrophic human suffering”.
Israel’s severe restrictions on aid deliveries have been blamed for the crisis. Food distribution sites operate for only a few minutes a day, leading to desperate crowds who have come under Israeli fire. Mansoura Fadl al-Helou, a 58-year-old widow, said she prevents her son from going to distribution points for fear he would not return alive. “The situation there is terrible and very dangerous,” she said.
Abu al-Abed, a father from Deir al-Balah, said his 14-year-old daughter’s ribcage bones are visible due to malnutrition. “If I, their father, feel this way, how much worse must it be for them?” he asked. Mughari, who has undergone open-heart surgery, said: “We have sent many messages to the world, but no one has moved. All I can tell the world is that we are dying slowly, save us from this tragedy.”
