KEY POINTS
- Israeli forces shot dead 39 people while waiting for food aid, as starvation and malnutrition worsen across Gaza.
- Only 73 aid trucks entered Gaza on Friday, far below the 600 trucks needed daily, per UN estimates.
- UNRWA called the crisis a “man-made famine”, urging immediate and unrestricted food aid.
- Germany criticised Israel’s aid restrictions, with arms delivery suspension under discussion.
GAZA CITY, Palestine: Israeli strikes killed 98 more Palestinians in Gaza during the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to over 60,430 since October 2023, the Palestinian territory’s health ministry said on Saturday, as a deepening starvation crisis grips the war-torn enclave amid collapsing humanitarian conditions.
According to the health ministry, in the past 24 hours, 1,079 people were injured, including 39 people fatally shot while waiting for food aid.
The latest surge in casualties comes amid growing international alarm over a worsening humanitarian catastrophe, as famine-like conditions spread across the besieged Palestinian enclave.
According to local health officials and aid organisations, cited by various media outlets, hunger and malnutrition are increasingly claiming the lives of civilians, especially children and the elderly.
Among the most recent victims was 17-year-old Atef Abu Khater, who died of severe malnutrition despite receiving medical treatment at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, Al Jazeera reported.
Abu Khater had been in good health before the conflict but rapidly deteriorated due to insufficient food intake.
Israeli Army Chief vows to continue offensive
Israel’s top military official, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said offensive in Gaza would continue unabated if ongoing negotiations failed to secure the release of hostages still held by Hamas.
“I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages,” Zamir said in a statement released by the Israeli army. “If not, the combat will continue without rest.”
The Israeli army says 49 captives remain in Gaza, of whom only 22 are believed to be alive.
Food aid crisis
The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate. According to the Gaza government’s media office, only 73 aid trucks entered the enclave on Friday, a fraction of the 500 to 600 trucks per day needed to meet basic food and medical needs, as estimated by the United Nations.
Most of these aid trucks, officials say, were looted by armed groups before reaching civilians.
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has called the situation a “man-made famine.”
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said: “The people of Gaza are being starved. This is a man-made famine. It needs to be addressed through political means. Gaza must be flooded with large-scale food aid — immediately, consistently, and without obstruction.”
The people of Gaza are being starved.
“This is a man-made #famine. It needs to be addressed through political means,” UNRWA Commissioner-General @UNLazzarini tells @SkyNews
Gaza must be flooded with large-scale food aid — immediately, consistently, and without obstruction.… pic.twitter.com/KkWMuXQMF0
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 2, 2025
Violence at aid sites
Former Gaza Humanitarian Foundation security guard Anthony Aguilar, a US military veteran, told Al Jazeera that he witnessed Israeli forces using excessive force at aid distribution points.
He described scenes of chaos where hungry civilians were “released in one giant, massive wave, unorganised, chaotic stampeding,” while Israeli soldiers fired automatic machineguns, artillery rounds, and even tank shells to control crowds.
“Never in my military career have I seen anyone use a ‘warning shot’ from a belt-fed machinegun,” Aguilar said, calling the tactics “abhorrent” and an “unnecessary escalation of force.”
According to Wafa news agency, six Palestinians were shot dead and several others wounded by Israeli forces near Wadi Gaza and the Netzarim Corridor while attempting to access food aid.
Earlier in the day, 12 people were killed under similar circumstances in the same area, bringing the total death toll of those killed while seeking aid on Friday to 18.
Collapse of emergency medical services
The head of ambulance and emergency services in northern Gaza, Fares Afanah, has said that 80 percent of the region’s ambulances have been destroyed by Israeli attacks.
Afanah said Israeli forces frequently block ambulances from reaching the wounded, many of whom suffer severe head and limb injuries.
‘Very insufficient’ aid
Amid rising global concern, Germany — a traditional ally of Israel — issued a rare rebuke, calling the aid allowed into Gaza “very insufficient”.
Following a visit to the region by Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, the German government acknowledged limited progress in aid deliveries but said more needed to be done.
“Israel remains obligated to ensure the full delivery of aid,” government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said.
A German security cabinet meeting on Saturday discussed various options to increase pressure on Israel, including a potential suspension of arms deliveries.
Germany also echoed UN concerns that criminal gangs, some allegedly backed by the Israeli army, have looted aid shipments.
OCHA’s Jonathan Whittall told reporters in May that “the real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces.”
Hamas refuses to disarm
Meanwhile, Hamas reiterated its refusal to disarm unless a fully sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital is established.
“Our armed resistance cannot be relinquished except through the full restoration of our national rights,” the group said in a statement cited by Reuters.
