Over 60,000 Palestinians Killed as Gaza Faces Famine, UN Warns

Israeli attacks on Gaza have now killed at least 60,034 Palestinians since the war began in October 2023, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said Tuesday. The staggering death toll comes as a new global hunger report warns that Gaza is on the brink of famine, with food and aid still heavily restricted.

Medical sources told Al Jazeera that 83 Palestinians, including 33 people waiting for food aid, were killed since dawn despite so-called “pauses” in fighting meant to allow humanitarian deliveries. Local residents described one of the bloodiest nights in recent weeks, with reports of Israel using tanks, drones, and even booby-trapped robots during the assault on Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

“This is a sign of a possible imminent Israeli ground manoeuvre, although Israel has not yet confirmed the objectives of the attack,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from the area.

Meanwhile, a new report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) paints a devastating picture of hunger inside Gaza. One in three people is going for days without food. Famine thresholds for food consumption have already been reached in most areas of the enclave, while acute malnutrition in Gaza City is skyrocketing.

“Amid relentless conflict, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, and the collapse of essential services, the crisis has reached an alarming and deadly turning point,” the IPC report said.

More than 20,000 children were treated for severe malnutrition between April and mid-July, and 3,000 remain in critical condition. At least 147 people, including 88 children, have already died of starvation since the war began, according to Gaza health officials.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the situation a “humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions,” urging Israel to stop blocking aid.

“The trickle of aid must become an ocean. Food, water, medicine, and fuel must flow in waves and without obstruction,” he said, again demanding an “immediate and permanent ceasefire.”

UN Women’s chief Sima Bahous warned that one million women and girls face the “unthinkable choice” of starving or risking their lives searching for food.

Even as hunger spreads, Israeli forces continue firing near aid distribution points run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

On Tuesday, the UK carried out its first aid airdrop into Gaza, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer promising to recognise Palestine as a state by September unless Israel makes “substantive steps” toward peace. France also pledged to deliver 40 tonnes of aid with Jordan’s help. But rights groups say airdrops are a dangerous and inefficient substitute for opening Gaza’s sealed border crossings to allow full-scale aid deliveries.

With input from Al Jazeera