Israeli forces have killed at least 60,034 Palestinians since the war on Gaza erupted in October 2023, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health.
The grim milestone was reached on Tuesday, as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global hunger monitoring system, warned in a new report that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera that at least 83 Palestinians, including 33 aid seekers, have been killed since dawn, despite “pauses” in fighting to deliver essential humanitarian aid.
Local accounts indicate that Israel used booby-trapped robots, as well as tanks and drones, in what residents describe as one of the bloodiest nights in recent weeks, said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
“This is a sign of a possible imminent Israeli ground manoeuvre, although Israel has not yet confirmed the objectives of the attack,” he said.
Food consumption has sharply deteriorated, the IPC said in its report, with one in three people going without food for days at a time.
“Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City,” it said.
“Amid relentless conflict, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, and the collapse of essential services, including healthcare, the crisis has reached an alarming and deadly turning point.”
Malnutrition rose rapidly in the first half of July, with more than 20,000 children being admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July. More than 3,000 of them are severely malnourished.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, citing the IPC report, demanded that aid deliveries no longer be blocked or delayed.
“The facts are in – and they are undeniable,” Guterres said in a statement.
“Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes.
“The trickle of aid must become an ocean. Food, water, medicine, and fuel must flow in waves and without obstruction,” he said.
“This nightmare must end. Ending this worst-case scenario will take the best efforts of all parties now.”
Guterres once again called for an “immediate and permanent humanitarian ceasefire”, the unconditional release of all captives and full access for humanitarian agencies across the enclave.
The IPC alert comes against the backdrop of its latest analysis released in May, which projected that by September, the entire population of Gaza would face high levels of acute food shortages, with more than 500,000 people expected to be in a state of extreme food deprivation, starvation and destitution, unless Israel lifts its blockade and stops its military campaign.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and humanitarian blockade, which it partially lifted in March, continues to plunge the Palestinian territory into an increasingly dire malnutrition crisis, as at least 147 people, including 88 children, have died from malnutrition since the start of the war, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Monday.
Starvation is affecting all sectors of the population, with Sima Bahous, the executive director of UN Women, saying that 1 million women and girls in Gaza face the “unthinkable choice” of starving or risking their lives while searching for food.
“This horror must end,” Bahous said in a social media post, calling for unhindered access of humanitarian aid into the Strip, the release of captives and a permanent ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces are still firing at aid seekers near distribution points run by the controversial United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
“Palestinians here still do not have any other options other than going to the GHF points in Netzarim,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said.
“There’s a crowd of people here who have been injured and shot at as they were trying to get food from that area.”
Also on Tuesday, the United Kingdom carried out its first airdrop of aid into Gaza, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office saying the aid is “containing around half a million pounds worth of lifesaving supplies”. The announcement followed statements from Starmer saying that the UK will recognise the State of Palestine in September unless Israel takes “substantive steps” to end its war on Gaza and commits to a lasting peace process.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot announced that Paris will airdrop 40 tonnes of aid into Gaza in close coordination with Jordan.
Rights groups have warned that airdropping aid into the enclave is inefficient and dangerous, reiterating calls to open border crossings.
Babies particularly affected
Medical staff at Gaza’s hospitals are seeing babies severely malnourished, “without muscles and fat tissue, just the skin over the bone”, the director of paediatrics and maternity at Nasser Hospital, Ahmed al-Farra, told Al Jazeera.
The long-term consequences of malnutrition for babies, infants and children are severe as they are still developing their central nervous system during the first three years of their lives, said al-Farra.
Babies who have been malnourished will not have the required folic acid, B1 complex and polyunsaturated fatty acids that are essential for the composition of the central nervous system.
Al-Farrah said that malnutrition can affect future cognitive development, make it hard for a child to read and write and lead to depression and anxiety.
Tanya Haj Hassan, a doctor with Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French initials MSF, explained that serious health risks remain even after food becomes available again.
“The reality is, the problem doesn’t end when the food arrives… malnutrition impacts all aspects of the body’s function,” Hassan told Al Jazeera.
“All of the cells in your body are altered by this. In the intestines, the cells die. That results in issues with absorption, with bacteria. Your pancreas struggles; absorbing fats is difficult.
“Your heart cells become weak and thinned. The connections are impacted, the heart rate slows. These children often die of heart failure, even when they’re being re-fed,” she added.
“They also have life-threatening shifts in salts; these can also lead to fatal heart rhythms. They’re more prone to sepsis and shock,” the doctor said, in reference to oral rehydration salt solutions, which are usually administered to people suffering from malnutrition.
“[Patients can face] low blood pressure, skin lesions, hypothermia, fluid overload, infection, vitamin deficiencies… that can affect vision and bone.”
