A Palestinian child has died of hunger in Gaza as Israel maintains its blockade on support provides and fires on folks compelled to hunt meals at controversial United States-backed support websites described as “loss of life traps”.
The 35-day-old toddler died of malnutrition at Gaza Metropolis’s al-Shifa Hospital, director Muhammad Abu Salmiya advised Al Jazeera. The unnamed toddler was one among 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 folks, 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 folks had been killed throughout the enclave since daybreak, together with 38 who had been shot lifeless whereas looking for meals from support websites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Basis (GHF).
Civil defence company spokesman Mahmud Bassal mentioned 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 businesses and charities.
Witness Mohammed al-Khalidi advised Al Jazeera the photographs fired at support seekers on Saturday had been “meant to kill”.
“All of a sudden, we noticed the jeeps coming from one aspect and the tanks from the opposite, they usually began capturing at us,” he mentioned.
One other witness, Mohammed al-Barbary, whose cousin died within the shootings, mentioned the GHF websites are “loss of life traps”.
“Anybody can get killed. My cousin was harmless. He went to get meals. He wished to dwell. We need to dwell like everybody else,” mentioned al-Barbary.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary mentioned 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 mentioned 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 danger of famine”.
“Nobody ought to should danger their life to get fundamental humanitarian help,” he mentioned.
Fundamental provides usually are not obtainable in markets or distribution factors, whereas the price of necessities comparable to flour skyrocketed, making it unimaginable for the inhabitants of two.3 million to satisfy their every day dietary wants.
Nobody ought to should danger their life to get fundamental humanitarian help.
Latest weeks have seen determined folks risking their lives simply to obtain fundamental support in Gaza.
The inhabitants is dealing with an acute danger of famine, with constantly worsening circumstances. Fundamental meals…
— Jagan Chapagain (@jagan_chapagain) July 19, 2025
Jan Egeland, the pinnacle of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), rejected assertions made earlier within the week by European Union international coverage chief Kaja Kallas, who famous “some good indicators” relating to support distribution in Gaza.
“For NRC and plenty of others no aid has entered for 142 days. Not one truck. Not one supply,” Egeland wrote on X. He famous that 85 % 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, mentioned it had “sufficient meals for all the inhabitants of Gaza” ready on the border crossing in Egypt.
“Open the gates, raise the siege and permit UNRWA to do its work,” the organisation mentioned on X.
Wave of assaults
Not 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 positioning of Israeli strikes on Bani Suheila close to southern Khan Younis, sources at Nasser Hospital advised Al Jazeera.
Not less than one particular person was killed by an Israeli drone assault on a tent housing displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis.
Additional north, Israel struck a residential dwelling 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 folks 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 folks had been killed in an Israeli air assault on the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, in keeping with the Palestinian Crimson Crescent.
Medical sources mentioned two folks 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.