GAZA CITY, Palestine: Six more people, including a child, have died of malnutrition in the besieged Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian territory’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday, bringing the total number of famine-related deaths since October 2023 to 367, of which 131 were children.
The ministry said that 89 of those deaths, including 16 children, occurred after the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in August formally declared Gaza City a famine zone.
Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian access, combined with the closure of Gaza’s border crossings since March, have pushed the population of 2.4 million into famine conditions.
Meanwhile, at least 13 Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli attacks on Gaza City, according to medical officials.
Five people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn child, died when an Israeli helicopter struck a residential building in western Gaza, Anadolu news agency reported, citing hospital sources.
Another three were killed when a separate helicopter attack hit a home in central Gaza City.
Israeli forces also targeted tents sheltering displaced families near the Ranteesi Specialist Hospital in the Nasr neighbourhood, leaving several people wounded, according to health officials, cited by Al Jazeera.
The Health Ministry said Israeli troops have continued detonating homes with booby-trapped devices in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan district.
Local residents told Reuters that incendiary bombs dropped from Israeli drones destroyed tents and stalls in Sheikh Radwan’s marketplace, sparking fires that damaged property and forced further displacement.
On August 8, Israel’s security cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for the occupation of Gaza, beginning with Gaza City.
Since then, Israeli tanks and soldiers have advanced deeper into Gaza City, including into Sheikh Radwan, one of its most densely populated areas.
The Health Ministry reported that 113 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall Palestinian death toll since October 2023 to at least 63,746. Injuries now total 161,245.
The ministry added that many victims remain trapped under rubble or on the streets, with rescuers unable to reach them due to the fighting.
It also said that 33 Palestinians were killed and more than 141 injured in the past day by Israeli fire while trying to obtain humanitarian aid.
Since 27 May, 2,339 people have been killed and over 17,070 wounded while seeking food or supplies, according to the ministry.
The Director General of Gaza’s Health Ministry, Dr Muneer Alboursh, said that over 1,100 people have been killed and 6,008 injured in an Israeli assault on Gaza City since 13 August.
