A Palestinian child has died of hunger in Gaza as Israel maintains its blockade on support provides and fires on individuals compelled to hunt meals at controversial United States-backed support websites described as “demise traps”.
The 35-day-old toddler died of malnutrition at Gaza Metropolis’s al-Shifa Hospital, director Muhammad Abu Salmiya instructed Al Jazeera. The unnamed toddler was one in all two individuals who succumbed to hunger within the facility on Saturday.
The deaths occurred as Gaza’s Ministry of Well being warned that hospital emergency wards had been overwhelmed by unprecedented numbers of ravenous individuals, with officers saying that 17,000 youngsters in Gaza are affected by extreme malnutrition.
In the meantime, the Israeli army continued to pound the Strip, with medical sources reporting that a minimum of 116 individuals had been killed throughout the enclave since daybreak, together with 38 who had been shot useless whereas looking for meals from support websites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Basis (GHF).
Civil defence company spokesman Mahmud Bassal stated the deaths occurred close to a web site southwest of Khan Yunis and one other centre northwest of Rafah, each in southern Gaza, attributing the fatalities to “Israeli gunfire”.
The Well being Ministry says nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and personal army contractors close to harmful GHF websites because the basis started distributing support in late Could, opening 4 factors that changed about 400 centres run by United Nations companies and charities.
Witness Mohammed al-Khalidi instructed Al Jazeera the photographs fired at support seekers on Saturday had been “meant to kill”.
“Abruptly, we noticed the jeeps coming from one facet and the tanks from the opposite, and so they began capturing at us,” he stated.
One other witness, Mohammed al-Barbary, whose cousin died within the shootings, stated the GHF websites are “demise traps”.
“Anybody can get killed. My cousin was harmless. He went to get meals. He wished to reside. We wish to reside like everybody else,” stated al-Barbary.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary stated households hoping for one thing to eat are as an alternative burying their family members.
The GHF denied that Saturday’s killings occurred at its web site, claiming they occurred “a number of kilometres away” and “hours earlier than our websites opened”.
The Israeli army stated it was reviewing the incident.
‘Open the gates’
Jagan Chapagain, the secretary-general of the Worldwide Federation of Crimson Cross and Crimson Crescent Societies, warned that Palestinians in Gaza face “an acute threat of famine”.
“Nobody ought to should threat their life to get fundamental humanitarian help,” he stated.
Fundamental provides are usually not obtainable in markets or distribution factors, whereas the price of necessities resembling flour skyrocketed, making it unattainable for the inhabitants of two.3 million to fulfill their each day dietary wants.
Nobody ought to should threat their life to get fundamental humanitarian help.
Latest weeks have seen determined individuals risking their lives simply to obtain fundamental support in Gaza.
The inhabitants is going through an acute threat of famine, with constantly worsening situations. Fundamental meals…
— Jagan Chapagain (@jagan_chapagain) July 19, 2025
Jan Egeland, the top of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), rejected assertions made earlier within the week by European Union overseas coverage chief Kaja Kallas, who famous “some good indicators” concerning support distribution in Gaza.
“For NRC and plenty of others no reduction has entered for 142 days. Not one truck. Not one supply,” Egeland wrote on X. He famous that 85 p.c of support vehicles by no means attain their vacation spot due to looting or different points fuelled by the Gaza hunger disaster.
The UN company for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which Israel has banned from working within the Palestinian territory, together with in occupied East Jerusalem, stated it had “sufficient meals for the complete inhabitants of Gaza” ready on the border crossing in Egypt.
“Open the gates, carry the siege and permit UNRWA to do its work,” the organisation stated on X.
Wave of assaults
No less than 116 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza on Saturday as Israel continued its ruthless onslaught, bombing tents for the displaced and houses throughout the enclave.
4 our bodies had been recovered from the location of Israeli strikes on Bani Suheila close to southern Khan Younis, sources at Nasser Hospital instructed Al Jazeera.
No less than one individual was killed by an Israeli drone assault on a tent housing displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis.
Additional north, Israel struck a residential residence within the city of az-Zawayda in central Gaza, killing the director of the Nuseirat police, Colonel Omar Saeed Aql, together with 11 of his members of the family, in keeping with the Inside Ministry.
In Gaza Metropolis, three individuals had been killed in two Israeli air assaults on the Zeitoun neighbourhood, in keeping with a supply at al-Ahli Hospital.
Additionally within the metropolis, 5 individuals had been killed in an Israeli air assault on the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, in keeping with the Palestinian Crimson Crescent.
Medical sources stated two individuals had been killed in Israeli shelling within the Jabalia an-Nazla neighbourhood, in northern Gaza.
Israeli forces additionally opened hearth on and arrested three Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza coast, in keeping with the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Workplace.
The Israeli army has maintained a naval blockade on Gaza since 2007, when Hamas took over the enclave, which has been tightened because the begin of the battle in October 2023.
