Gaza starvation warning as aid agencies urge Israel to end blockade

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Alaa Al-Najjar mourns her three-month-old baby Yehia, who died due to malnutrition according to medics, in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Sunday.

Palestinians in Gaza are suffering a man-made “mass starvation” due to the aid blockade on the enclave, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned reporters at a briefing Wednesday.

“Parents tell us their children cry themselves to sleep from hunger,” Ghebreyesus said. “Food distribution sites have become places of violence.”

Ghebreyesus’ answer was unambiguous when asked whether he agrees with a statement this week from over 100 aid organizations that Gaza is experiencing “mass starvation.” Earlier in the briefing, one of the WHO chief’s colleagues expressed reservations about using the term.

“Mass starvation means starvation of a large portion of the population,” Ghebreyesus said. “And a large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving. I don’t know what you’d call it other than mass starvation. And it is man-made, and that’s very clear.”

“This is because of (the) blockade,” Ghebreyesus continued. “And then of course there is an opening now, but it’s not enough. It is just a trickle and people are starving.”

“I don’t know why we’re even splitting hairs here,” Ghebreyesus added.

The WHO chief pointed to a UN report from this week noting that over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid since late May, hundreds of them at sites managed by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The organization said in a statement to CNN that the UN statistics are “false and exaggerated.”

Israeli officials have blamed Hamas for any hunger in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog visited Israeli soldiers serving in Gaza and insisted that their country is following international law as over a hundred humanitarian organizations called for Israel to release aid into the enclave to feed starving Palestinians.

“We are acting here according to international law,” Herzog said

“We are providing humanitarian aid according to international law. The ones trying to sabotage this aid are Hamas and its people, who are willing to do everything to prevent our forces from dismantling infrastructure that could harm us and our citizens,” he added.

Herzog’s remarks echo similar claims from Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer on Wednesday, who dismissed aid organizations’ concerns as “false warnings” and claimed that Hamas is responsible for “engineering” the hunger crisis in Gaza by stealing aid. Hamas has denied the allegation.

For context: Gaza has been gripped by death and hunger amid a severe shortage of essential humanitarian aid like food and medicine. All 2.1 million people in Gaza are now food insecure. On Tuesday, Gaza’s health ministry said 900,000 children are going hungry, and 70,000 already show signs of malnutrition.

Hamas responded to the Israeli proposal on where their troops would be re-deployed during a ceasefire, with a new outline for the Israeli troop withdrawal that is “unworkable,” according to a source familiar with the matter.

Hamas was told to resubmit its response today via intermediaries in Doha, but the inability to move beyond what has been a consistent sticking point is leading to pessimism about the likelihood of a ceasefire being reached soon.

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to travel to Doha later this week for further discussions if the talks are at an advanced stage, but now it is unclear if that will happen, the source said. Bruce said that Witkoff was moving to have additional conversations during her CNN interview, but she did not cite any specifics.

Some background: An Israeli source told CNN earlier on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas need to agree on exactly how far into Gaza Israeli forces will be allowed to operate should a ceasefire deal be reached between the two parties.

Israel is demanding that it be allowed within a perimeter of 1,200 meters (0.75 miles) from its border along the Gaza, while Hamas is insisting that this perimeter must be 800 meters (0.5 miles) and no more, according to the source.

Hamas militants stand guard in Rafah during a handover of Israeli hostages as part of a ceasefire and a hostages/prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel on February 22.

An Egyptian source with knowledge of the matter told CNN on Wednesday that Hamas has submitted its response on Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, but “did not meet the expectations” of Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

The source said mediators in return have “asked Hamas to submit a revised response that could enable progress toward reaching a deal.”

“The mediators are pushing for the updated reply to arrive today,” the source added.

An Israeli source has said: “Hamas’s response was received by the mediators and was unacceptable even to them.”

“Israel hasn’t even officially received the reply. It is fundamentally different from what was on the table,” the source told CNN on Wednesday.

Following Hamas’ response, two far-right Israeli ministers have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue the war in Gaza until Hamas is “destroyed.”

“(The) time has come to close the door once and for all on a partial deal,” Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Wednesday in a statement addressed to Netanyahu.

“We should not be talking to Hamas. Hamas must be destroyed – no humanitarian aid, no surrender deals,” Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also said.

Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer has told reporters that Israel is not responsible for any food shortages or hunger in Gaza.

“In Gaza today there is no famine caused by Israel,” Mencer said at a media briefing on Wednesday. “There is, however, a man-made shortage engineered by Hamas. Now, too often the full story is not being told. The suffering exists because Hamas has created it. The suffering exists because Hamas has made it.”

Mencer dismissed the criticism of aid organizations Wednesday, claiming that “these are false warnings.”

The US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) also claimed in a statement to CNN that United Nations aid is being “looted” by Hamas and others.

The UN reported this week that over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid in Gaza since late May when GHF began operating in the strip. Of those, hundreds were killed near GHF sites, according to the UN.

GHF called the figure “false and exaggerated,” and said it appears “to come directly from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.”

Both the UN and US officials have previously appraised the figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza as credible.

Palestinians who were previously sheltering in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah have spoken to CNN upon returning to the area, after an Israeli military operation forced them to evacuate on Sunday.

Ahmad Abu Kteif described shells falling on his tent in the middle of the night, evacuating, then returning to “complete destruction.”

Sliman Abu Amra, who has lived at the camp in Deir al-Balah since his house was destroyed, said he returned three days after evacuating the area.

“We came to (collect) our belongings,” he told CNN. “There is nothing that indicates a source of life.”

Another man fainted while talking to CNN, after describing how he came back to the camp to try and find some food and water. “I barely ate half a piece of bread every two days,” he said.

Abu Al-Abed, another man, called the situation “nothing new,” pointing out that Palestinians have been displaced since 1948.

Food markets are empty. Human waste is piling up. Illness is spreading. And people in Gaza are “collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration.”

That’s the stark warning issued by more than 100 international humanitarian organizations on Wednesday, in a joint statement calling on Israel to end its blockade.

Israel has said it is allowing ample aid into the besieged Palestinian territory and 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.

Images taken by news agency photographers on the ground in Gaza show the reality of spreading disease and famine:

A 1.5-year-old child in Gaza City, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, faces life-threatening malnutrition as the humanitarian situation worsens due to ongoing Israeli attacks and blockade, on Monday. Having dropped from 9 to 6 kilograms, he struggles to survive in a tent.

Crowds form as Palestinians, including children, line up in Gaza City, Gaza, to receive food distributed by a charity on Tuesday. The World Food Program has warned that famine is looming, and 70,000 children in Gaza need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition.

Two-year-old Yezen Abu Ful, who lives with his family in the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, continues to lose weight. Pictured on July 13, his condition continues to worsen due to severe food shortages caused by the ongoing Israeli blockade.

Displaced Palestinians in Gaza City fill cans with water delivered by tankers on July 17. With key infrastructure destroyed, UN agencies have warned that hundreds of thousands of people have little access to water or hygiene

A 14-year-old Palestinian boy, Mosab Al-Debs, who is suffering from malnourishment, lies on a bed at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on Tuesday.

A man carries the body of his nephew: six-week-old infant Yousef al-Safadi – who died of starvation, according to health officials, in Gaza City on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C. on July 8.

Away from Gaza now, and Israeli police have today released information about an alleged plot to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to the Police Spokesperson’s Unit, a woman in her 70s who was a known anti-government protester “allegedly expressed intentions to assassinate the prime minister.”

The suspect reportedly approached other activists to try to obtain weapons and asked about Netanyahu’s security arrangements, the spokespersons unit said, without sharing when these instances allegedly took place.

The investigation has been transferred to the office of Israel’s state attorney, the spokespersons unit continued.

Yair Lapid, the head of Israel’s opposition, said he “strongly condemn(s)” the assassination attempt.

“Full legal action must be taken against anyone who has tried or will try to harm him,” Lapid added.

Palestinians inspect the damage to homes after an Israeli military operation in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on Wednesday.

France “firmly condemns” the expanded Israeli offensive in central Gaza, which has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, the French foreign ministry said today.

France reiterated its call for Israel to meet its obligations under international law towards the civilian population in Gaza and to immediately allow for the entry of aid, as well as journalists, into Gaza, and to stop impeding the work of international aid agencies.

Israeli tanks on Monday rolled into the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, which hadn’t previously seen ground operations in the 21-month war, according to Israeli media, aid agencies and witnesses.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Monday that an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 people were in the area under Israeli evacuation orders.

Here’s the video of our interview with Oxfam director Scott Paul, who has warned famine is “banging down the door” in Gaza.

Paul told CNN there is currently two months of food - enough to feed all of Gaza - waiting at the border, but Israel is restricting the aid distribution.

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.

Take a look at what he told us here:

Mourners carry a body during outside of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday.

At least 34 people have been killed seeking aid in Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry in the enclave.

More than 644 people were also injured attempting to receive aid in the same time period, the health ministry said.

The ministry did not give any further details about where or how people were killed or injured. Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV reported that 22 people were killed waiting for aid in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

The United Nations’ human rights office has said that at least 1,054 Palestinians were “killed by the Israeli military in Gaza while trying to access food” between May 27 and July 21.

May 27 is when the controversial Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating in the enclave. The GHF does not operate in northern Gaza, so the 22 deaths reported by Al-Aqsa TV would not have occurred near one of its sites.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 59,219 people have died and 143,045 have been injured in the Strip since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and Israel began its war on the militant group.

CNN is not able to independently verify these figures.

When asked for comment, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities.”

“In stark contrast to Hamas’ intentional attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm,” the military said.

People push to receive a hot meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, Gaza, on Tuesday.

“The UN-led humanitarian system has not failed, it has been prevented from functioning.”

Returning now to the stark warning published in a joint statement to the Israeli government and signed by more than 100 aid organizations, and here’s a breakdown of what it said.

The letter called on the Israeli government to end its blockade of Gaza, noting that there is enough food to stop the famine from occurring, but Israel isn’t allowing it in.

It also said that alongside Palestinian civilians, aid workers are at risk of starvation and of being shot as they search for food.

“Just outside Gaza, in warehouses - and even within Gaza itself - tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them. The Government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death.”

Israel says it is allowing ample aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.

The statement also outlined a list of key demands from the 111 signatories, including:

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a United Nations Security Council emergency meeting in New York on June 22.

Starvation is “knocking on every door” in Gaza, according to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who called the situation a “horror show.”

“Around the world, we see an utter disregard for, if not (an) outright violation of, international law,” he told the United Nations Security Council yesterday.

“We need look no further than the horror show in Gaza. In the level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times. Malnourishment is soaring. Starvation is knocking on every door. Now we are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles,” he said.

The UN’s humanitarian system is being “denied the conditions to function” in Gaza, including the space to deliver aid and the safety to help people in need, Guterres said.

The Israeli military’s new operation in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza has meant that “devastation is being layered upon devastation.”

Guterres also said that he is “appalled” by the striking of UN premises inside Gaza, including the facilities of the United Nations Office for Project Services and warehouses and residences belonging to the World Health Organization.

“These premises are inviolable and must be protected under international humanitarian law without exception,” he said.

Adham carries the body of his nephew, six-week-old infant Yousef al-Safadi, who died of starvation according to health officials, in Gaza City on Tuesday.

At least 10 people have died from starvation in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry in the enclave.

“The death toll from famine and malnutrition is rising at an alarming rate,” Dr. Munir al-Boursh, director-general of the health ministry, said in a post on X.

“These are not just numbers - they are cries for help, a human plea urging the world to act before it’s too late,” he continued.

This update comes as a coalition of more than 100 international humanitarian organizations has on Wednesday called on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, as we’ve been reporting this morning.

Smoke rises over western Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on Monday.

Aid workers treated patients even as they were packing up to evacuate the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, where residents said the Israeli military ordered them to leave an area of nearly 6 square kilometers (2.3 square miles) on Sunday, according to an NGO in the area.

MAP workers “just couldn’t turn them away,” Elawawda said. “We helped them even as we were packing up.”

In the days leading up to the forced evacuation, the MAP clinic received patients who hadn’t eaten for days, including children and pregnant women, she added.

People who had been shot while seeking aid were also treated at the clinic, Elawawda said, noting that the MAP team had treated around 120 injured patients needing mobilization aid after being wounded while trying to receive humanitarian relief.

If you’re just joining our coverage, here’s what to know about the ongoing war in Gaza, as aid workers warn the starvation crisis in the territory is spiralling.

The director of peace and security at Oxfam, Scott Paul, told CNN there is enough food at the borders around Gaza to feed the whole population for two months, but that it is being “restricted” by the Israeli government.

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.

Here’s what else to know:

CNN’s Kathleen Magramo, Abeer Salman, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Jennifer Hansler and Antoinette Radford contributed reporting.

Palestinians gather at an aid distribution point set up by the privately-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation near the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on June 25.

Humanitarian groups are struggling to help displaced civilians in Gaza as aid staff face hunger amid Israel’s aid blockade, an NGO spokesperson told CNN.

Since Israeli tanks on Monday rolled into Deir al-Balah, a part of Gaza that had not previously seen ground operations and where displaced people have fled, distributing aid became more difficult, Bayram told CNN’s Rosemary Church

NRC workers are only having one meal a day, “so that their children don’t go to bed with empty stomachs,” he added.

Frustration is also mounting because “thousands and thousands of tons of food” are being left at border crossings while aid organizations are still mostly restricted from moving within the territory, Bayram said.

Israel has repeatedly claimed that it is doing this to prevent Hamas from stealing supplies. Aid agencies have denied that supplies end up in Hamas’ hands.

While Bayram did not specifically name the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, he said the current aid mechanism created chaos at distribution sites and called for an end to such operations.

GHF has defended its model of assistance delivery and blamed aid organizations for not cooperating.

Palestinian children wait for a meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, Gaza, on Tuesday.

A coalition of more than 100 international humanitarian organizations has called on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, restore the full flow of food, clean water and medical supplies to the enclave, and agree to a ceasefire.

In a joint statement the 111 agencies warned that supplies in the enclave are now “totally depleted” and that humanitarian groups are “witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.”

“As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families,” the agencies said in the statement.

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.

Israeli agencies have also blamed UN agencies, accusing them of not picking up aid that is ready to move into Gaza. But the UN asserts that Israeli forces frequently deny permission to move aid within the enclave, and that much more is waiting to be allowed in.

Major agencies including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Amnesty International, and the Norwegian Refugee Council are among the signatories of the statement.

For context: Gaza was already heavily dependent on aid and commercial shipments of food even before Israel launched its war on Hamas following the October 2023 attack, and shortages of food, medical supplies, fuel and other necessities have only worsened since.

The agencies criticized the controversial Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which began operating on May 27. The organizations said shootings occurred almost daily at food distribution sites.

An Israeli APC manoeuvres next to other military vehicles on the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, on July 16.

Israel and Hamas need to agree on exactly how far into Gaza Israeli forces will be allowed to operate should a ceasefire deal be reached between the two parties, an Israeli source told CNN.

Israel is demanding that it be allowed within a perimeter of 1,200 meters (0.75 miles) from its border along the Gaza Strip, while Hamas is insisting that this perimeter must be 800 meters (0.5 miles) and no more, according to the source.

The disagreement is viewed as solvable, the source said Wednesday, adding that a compromise is likely to be reached.

In another area of peace negotiations, the source told CNN that Israel has proposed that it releases 125 Palestinian prisoners as part of a deal. No other figure, including any alternative number proposed by Hamas, is known, the source added.

Israel is still awaiting Hamas’ response to its latest ceasefire proposal, the source said.