In pictures: Starvation in Gaza

Updated July 28, 2025

Editor’s note: This gallery contains disturbing images. Viewer discretion is advised.

Israel announced a “tactical pause in military activity” in three areas of Gaza on Sunday to allow aid to reach more people inside the enclave.

The move comes amid growing international outrage over starvation in the territory.

Scores of people — most of them children — have died of malnutrition since October 2023, the Palestinian health ministry says. Last week, more than 100 international humanitarian organizations issued a joint statement, calling on Israel to end its blockade; restore the full flow of food, clean water and medical supplies to Gaza; and agree to a ceasefire.

"Every day without a sustained flow of aid means more people dying of preventable illnesses,” said the statement, signed by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and dozens of other NGOs. “Children starve while waiting for promises that never arrive."

Israel has previously blamed Hamas for its decision to halt aid shipments, alleging the militant group was stealing supplies and profiting from it. Hamas has denied this allegation.

Israel has said it is allowing ample aid into the besieged Palestinian territory, but aid agencies and multiple Western nations say the amount of food reaching Gaza’s population under strict Israeli control is a fraction of what is needed.

The United Nations World Food Program has warned that famine is looming and that 70,000 children in Gaza need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition.

A displaced Palestinian woman cooks amid ongoing food shortages in Gaza on July 28. (Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)

An airplane drops humanitarian aid over Gaza on July 27. The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees called the drops a “distraction,” saying they will do little to alleviate suffering in the enclave. (Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)

Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City on July 27. (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)

Young Palestinians wait for a charity organization to distribute food in Gaza City on July 24. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/Getty Images)

Palestinians walk with sacks of flour after trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered northern Gaza from the Zikim border crossing on July 27. (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Reuters)

Humanitarian aid is dropped over Gaza City on July 27. Proponents of airdrops say they can act as an additional means to deliver aid to hard-to-reach areas within a short period of time. But human rights agencies have repeatedly condemned the method as an inefficient way of getting aid to Palestinians in Gaza, with pallets of supplies having crushed Palestinians in the past. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times/Redux)

Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, a child in Gaza City, is held on July 21. He has a muscle disorder that requires physical therapy and specialized nutrition, and he faces life-threatening malnutrition as the humanitarian situation worsens due to ongoing Israeli attacks and the blockade. Having dropped from 9 to 6 kilograms (approximately 20 to 13 pounds), he struggles to survive in a tent. (Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-arini/Anadolu/Getty Images)

Palestinians wait for food rations in late July.

Samah Matar holds her malnourished son Ameer, who has cerebral palsy, at a school where their family is taking shelter in Gaza City on July 24. (Mahmoud Issa/Reuters)

A woman prepares bread over a fire due to the lack of cooking gas in Gaza on April 23. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times/Redux)

Palestinians gather for aid in Beit Lahia, Gaza, on June 17. (Reuters)

A displaced Palestinian girl takes a sip of lentil soup that she received at a food distribution point in Gaza City on July 25. (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images)

Parcels of humanitarian aid await transfer on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing on July 24. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)

Ahmad al-Farra, head of the pediatrics and maternity department at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, examines 11-month-old Seela Barbakh on July 23. (Reuters)

Palestinians grieve for their dead relatives outside the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on July 20. At least 73 people were killed and around 150 people injured by Israeli gunfire in Gaza while seeking aid that day, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The Israel Defense Forces said that troops had “fired warning shots in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them” after “a gathering of thousands of Gazans was identified in the northern Gaza Strip.” (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times/Redux)

Yazan, a malnourished 2-year-old, stands in his family’s damaged home in the Al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City on July 23. (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images)

Hundreds of Palestinians wait in line for hours in the scorching heat to receive food aid at the Nuseirat Camp in Gaza on July 25. (Hassan Jedi/Anadolu/Getty Images)

Palestinians wait for food that was distributed by a charity organization in Gaza City on July 25. (Mahmoud Abu Hamda/Anadolu/Getty Images)

Palestinians rush to line up at a charity kitchen in Khan Younis on July 22. (AFP/Getty Images)

Palestinians carry sacks, which appear to be aid supplies, in Khan Younis on July 23. (Reuters)

A Palestinian family displaced from Beit Hanoun, Gaza, shares a meal of bulgur wheat in Gaza City on May 24. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times/Redux)

A boy fills plastic containers with water to carry to his family in the Jabalya camp in Gaza on April 24. There is little clean water available in Gaza, so people often dig for whatever water they can find. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times/Redux)

People seeking aid from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation carry bags near Rafah, Gaza, on July 24. (Ramadan Abed/Reuters)

Mohammed al-Mutawaq, an 18-month-old Palestinian boy with medical issues and signs of malnutrition, lies on a mattress inside a tent at the Al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City on July 25. (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images)

Crowds form in Gaza City as Palestinians wait to receive food distributed by a charity on July 22. The World Food Programme has warned that famine is looming and that 70,000 children in Gaza need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/Getty Images)

Palestinians hurry toward a distribution point northwest of Gaza City as humanitarian aid arrives on June 16. A convoy of trucks brought food parcels into the territory. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times)

Alaa Al-Najjar mourns her 3-month-old baby, Yehia, at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on July 20. Medics said Yehia died from malnutrition. (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)

A Palestinian girl suffering from malnutrition has her arm circumference measured while receiving treatment at the Patient Friends Association Hospital in Gaza City on July 22. (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images)

Palestinian families and journalists gather in Gaza City on July 19 to demand an end to Israeli attacks and the entry of humanitarian aid. Demonstrators held banners reading "Gaza is starving," "Stop the attacks" and "We appeal to the world's conscience." (Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu/Getty Images)

Najwa Hussein Hajjaj, 6, is suffering from severe malnutrition in Gaza City. The Jordanian embassy contacted the family in an attempt to get Najwa out to receive medical care abroad. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times/Redux)

Palestinians reach out to receive food at a distribution center in Beit Lahia on April 3. (Reuters)