TEHRAN – The blockade imposed by the Israeli occupation regime on Gaza has placed 650,000 starving Palestinian children at risk of death.

The occupation regime continues its starvation campaign in Gaza, putting hundreds of thousands of children at risk of death and blocking desperately needed humanitarian assistance. 

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the consequences are dire.

With the ongoing blockade, an unprecedented number of people, of all ages, are arriving at field hospital emergency rooms suffering from extreme exhaustion and malnutrition. 

In a statement, the Ministry of Health warned that hundreds of severely weakened individuals are facing certain death due to hunger and their bodies’ inability to endure further deprivation.

The number of children who have died due to starvation and malnutrition in Gaza has risen to more than 70. 

“We warn that hundreds of those whose bodies have withered are now facing certain death from hunger, as their physical strength can no longer sustain them,” the ministry explained. 

At least 620 Palestinians have died from a lack of food and medicine, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. 

These figures have emerged as the Israeli occupation regime maintains its complete siege on the territory, a policy described by the office as part of an ongoing campaign of genocide, exacerbated by the absence of any meaningful international intervention.

The Government Media Office also released updated figures tied to the blockade. Since the start of the full closure of Gaza’s crossings, the occupation regime has blocked at least 76,450 humanitarian aid and fuel trucks from entering the Strip.

As a result, in addition to the dozens of children already starved to death, some 650,000 children are now at risk of dying from hunger and malnutrition.

Also, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has once again accused the occupation regime of using starvation as a weapon against the civilian population of Gaza.

In a statement on social media, UNRWA warned: “The Israeli Authorities are starving civilians in Gaza. Among them are one million children.”

The Gaza Government Office renewed its urgent call to end the ongoing deadly blockade, saying: “Lift the siege: allow UNRWA to bring in food and medicines.”

In what the office called “American-Israeli aid centers”, referred to as “death traps,” nearly 900 people have been killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking food aid. More than 5,666 others have been injured, and 42 are missing.

Israeli occupation forces have also bombed or targeted:

• 57 aid and food distribution centers
• 42 public kitchens
• Humanitarian convoys and aid deliveries on 121 separate occasions

Meanwhile, 12,500 cancer patients are at risk of death without access to treatment or nutrition, and around 60,000 pregnant women face serious health risks due to the lack of healthcare and food.

Certain countries are complicit in the starvation campaign

The Gaza Government Media Office holds the Israeli regime fully responsible for the starvation crisis. However, it also blames countries complicit in the ongoing genocide through silence, complicity, or direct support, chief among them, the United States, Germany, and France.

The office urgently called on the international community and the free world to take immediate action to stop the regime’s starvation policy, to open border crossings, break the siege, and allow aid to enter without delay.

“Some families haven’t eaten in days”

Mouhammed Bseil, spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense, stated, “Some families have not eaten in days, and most people have no access to food.”

Even civil defense teams are struggling. “Some of our own teams haven’t eaten in two days and are surviving on water alone,” Bseil said, adding that the so-called “aid centers” are purely political tools, not humanitarian efforts.

He concluded with a grim warning: “History will record that many people in Gaza were killed by starvation in the days ahead.”