GENOCIDE BY STARVATION: 185 Palestinians died of hunger in August while Israel bombs aid lines

• Israel’s blockade and escalating airstrikes have caused 367 famine-related deaths, including 131 children, while 43,000 children under five now suffer from malnutrition.
• Gaza City is the first place outside Africa to be officially declared in famine, yet Israel denies it while admitting 80% of war deaths are civilians.
• Only 10 to 20% of necessary food aid enters Gaza, with 430 essential food items banned and aid seekers bombed while waiting for supplies.
• Israel’s assault on Gaza City has killed more than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, with genocide scholars confirming Israel’s actions meet the UN’s legal definition of genocide.
• The U.S. built a $320 million aid pier, but Israeli restrictions and settler raids prevent food from reaching those in need, while the world fails to intervene.

The Palestinian health ministry just confirmed that 185 Palestinians died from malnutrition in August alone, the highest monthly toll yet, bringing the total famine-related deaths to 367 since October 2023. Among them? 131 children. And yet instead of easing the blockade, Israel is escalating its airstrikes, killing 113 Palestinians in a single day this week.

More than 43,000 children under five are now suffering from malnutrition, while 55,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women—two-thirds of whom are anemic—are being systematically deprived of food. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed hunger monitor, officially declared famine in Gaza City last month, marking the first time famine has been recorded outside Africa in modern history. Yet Israel still claims there’s no famine, even as its own military data admis that 80% of those killed in this war are civilians.

A manufactured famine with a body count

Gaza’s health ministry stated: “The catastrophic impact of famine in the Gaza Strip is accelerating.” Since Israel imposed a total border closure on March 2, nearly two million people have been pushed into deliberate starvation. Wheat flour has become a luxury. Hospitals, bakeries, and water treatment plants have been systematically destroyed. And while Israel partially reopened some crossings under global pressure, the Gaza Government Media Office reports that only 10-20% of necessary food aid is getting through.

Worse yet, 430 essential food items—including eggs, meat, fish, dairy, fruits, and nutritional supplements—remain banned. The little aid that does enter is often looted by Israeli-backed gangs or blocked at distribution points where desperate Palestinians are bombed while waiting for food. On Tuesday alone, 20 aid seekers were killed in Israeli strikes. This isn’t collateral damage. It’s policy.

Bombs, blockades, and a war with no end

While Gaza starves, Israel is intensifying its assault on Gaza City, home to nearly a million people. The goal? Forcible displacement and total destruction. On Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes slaughtered 53 Palestinians in Gaza City alone, part of a broader campaign that has now killed at least 63,633 people—most of them civilians—and wounded 160,914 since October 2023.

The world’s top genocide scholars agree: Israel’s actions meet the legal definition of genocide. The International Association of Genocide Scholars, a body of 500 academics, just passed a resolution stating that Israel’s policies fulfill the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called this famine a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself.”

Israel’s response? More bombs. More blockades. More starvation.

Even Israel’s own military leadership is rebelling against Netanyahu. Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir reportedly confronted the prime minister in Cabinet meetings, opposing the planned assault on Gaza City. The Israeli army is struggling to find 60,000 reservists needed for the operation, with many soldiers refusing to participate in what they see as a war crime.

The U.S. has built a $320 million emergency pier to deliver aid, but most of it is inaccessible due to Israeli restrictions. The few trucks that make it through are raided by extremist settlers who gleefully destroy food shipments on camera. The international community wrings its hands, but no one stops the slaughter.

Sources for this article include:

MiddleEastEye.net

AlJazeera.com

PalestineChronicle.com