21 children died from starvation in 72 hours in Gaza, says hospital

The head of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said on Tuesday (July 22, 2025) that 21 children had died across the Palestinian territory in the past three days “due to malnutrition and starvation”.

“These deaths were recorded at hospitals in Gaza, including Al-Shifa in Gaza City, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah and Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis… over the past 72 hours,” Mohammed Abu Salmiya told reporters.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday evening that “the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing” in Gaza, and that there were growing reports of children and adults with malnutrition.

Mr. Abu Salmiya told reporters that new cases of malnutrition and starvation were arriving at Gaza’s remaining functioning hospitals “every moment”.

“We are heading towards alarming numbers of deaths due to the starvation inflicted on the people of Gaza,” he added.

After talks to extend a six-week ceasefire broke down, Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza on March 2 this year, allowing nothing in until trucks were again permitted at a trickle in late May.

But stocks accumulated during the ceasefire gradually depleted, leaving the territory’s more than two million inhabitants experiencing the worst shortages since the start of the war in October 2023.

World Food Programme director Carl Skau, who visited Gaza City in early July, called the situation “the worst” that he had ever seen.

Last Sunday, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that at least three infants died from “severe hunger and malnutrition” in the past week.

Gaza’s health authorities said at least 20 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Tuesday, as Israel pushed on with a new incursion in an area that had largely been spared heavy fighting during the 21-month war. The Israeli military ordered evacuations from parts of the city earlier this week.