Reports and images from Gaza are depicting the horrifying reality facing Palestinians in the ongoing genocidal crime against humanity perpetrated by the US-backed Israeli government since October 2023.

Amidst the unrelenting 20-month blockade and bombardment of Gaza, the fascist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is systematically starving children to death. Reports from besieged hospitals and grief-stricken families present a picture of deliberate food deprivation targeting the most vulnerable.

The death toll from starvation and malnutrition-related causes continues to climb with each passing day. As of July 25, officials in Gaza report at least 113 starvation-related deaths since October 2023, of which 81 are children.

On just a single day this week, 15 more Palestinians—including infants—have died due to the lack of food, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. More than 28,000 children have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition to date.

Healthcare workers in Gaza—already operating under impossible conditions—warn that the number is far higher, with many cases going unreported due to infrastructure collapse and communication blackouts.

Doctors describe an unthinkable but nonetheless real situation. UNICEF Regional Director Edouard Beigbeder recently stated, “Children in the Gaza Strip are starving to death. Severe acute malnutrition is rising faster than humanitarian supplies can enter Gaza.”

At Nasser Hospital, one of the few functioning facilities left, Dr. Ahmed al-Farra shared, “No one in Gaza is outside the threat of famine, not even myself. I am speaking to you as a health official, but I, too, am looking for flour to feed my family.”

Among the starving is the case of Zainab Abu Halib, a five-month-old girl. According to an investigation by The Associated Press, Zainab was born healthy, weighing over 3 kg. But after her death, doctors reported she weighed less than 2 kg. Her father, Ahmed Abu Halib, explained that Zainab had relied on a specific baby formula that simply did not exist in Gaza’s besieged markets.

Her mother, weakened by hunger and dehydration, could not produce breast milk. In desperation, they borrowed money to buy formula smuggled through makeshift networks, but the supplies were inconsistent. Zainab began vomiting everything, and over time, her skeletal frame deteriorated further.

“She cried all night out of hunger,” her mother said. “We had nothing left to give her. Nothing.” A doctor at Nasser Hospital noted that her body had stopped absorbing nutrients entirely. “By the time she arrived, it was too late. We tried, but her organs had failed. Her immune system no longer worked.”

At her funeral, her father could barely speak. “With my daughter’s death, many will follow,” her mother said. “We are just numbers now. Our children have become numbers.”

Hunger and grief have tormented mothers across Gaza, especially those attempting to breastfeed their infants. Normally a biological lifeline between mother and child, breastfeeding has become all but impossible.

One woman, Nada, told a journalist via text message: “There’s barely salty water. I am collapsing from hunger and dehydration, unable to produce milk for my son... I fear he will die.”

Nagla Waleed Abou Aia, the mother of five-month-old Ramaa, explained how her daughter has not gained any weight since birth.

“I could not breastfeed because there is no food for me. My baby is starving.” Ramaa’s eyes are sunken. Her skin hangs loose on her bones. Nurses holding her tiny body burst into tears. There is nothing left to offer but comfort.

Al Jazeera reported this week that at least 15 people died from starvation in a single 24-hour span, raising the death toll to over 100 due to hunger alone. “Famine is now our reality,” the Health Ministry said. “And the world does nothing. The Israeli government, the US administration, and other complicit nations are fully responsible for this historic genocide.”

On Sunday, The Washington Post described the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza that brings devastating effects to the human body, particularly among children. According to the report, hospitals are overwhelmed with malnourished children showing signs of acute wasting: hollow eyes, protruding ribs, emaciated limbs, and severe fatigue.

Medical professionals express alarm at how the sustained lack of nutrition means children’s bodies can no longer properly absorb nutrients. This leads to immune system collapse, organ failure, and, in the most advanced cases, death from complications such as dehydration and infections that a healthy body would normally withstand.

The Post notes that the process of starvation undermines the body in stages: initial weight loss and fatigue give way to muscle atrophy, weakened organs and suppressed immune function, making even minor illnesses fatal.

Aid agencies warn that Gaza’s children show classic signs of acute malnutrition, including brittle skin, swelling from protein deficiency (kwashiorkor), and a total loss of subcutaneous fat, leaving limbs looking like sticks.

Once hunger becomes widespread and persistent, a dramatic surge in deaths is seen among the most vulnerable—infants and young children. The physical and psychological toll is evident in families’ inability to provide food and children too frail to cry or play.

The images now emerging from Gaza shock the conscience and recall the worst crimes in history. Photographs of emaciated Palestinian children lying in bombed tents or hospital floors, too weak to cry, bear an undeniable resemblance to the infamous images of Jews starved in Nazi concentration camps in World War II. The starvation, the sunken eyes, the wasted bodies all invoke memories of Auschwitz, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen.

It is a cruel irony that the people of Israel—many of whom have family members who were victims of Hitlerite genocide—are now governed by a regime practicing the same methods as the Nazis. Zionism has resulted in targeted killing, displacement and starvation of an entire people.

However, unlike during World War II, when the world learned of the full scale of Nazi crimes only after the liberation of the death camps in 1945, the genocide in Gaza is unfolding today before the eyes of billions of people around the globe in real time.

Through websites, social media, smartphone recordings and live streaming around the globe, no amount of lies or justifications can hide the truth of what is happening. The deliberate starvation of children by Israel is taking place openly with the support of both the US and European imperialist governments.

At the same time, the deadly attacks by Israel have dramatically escalated since Netanyahu left the White House less than three weeks ago. On Sunday, Israel Defense Forces killed at least 63 people across Gaza, shortly after the military claimed it would begin “pausing” attacks for 10 hours daily in some areas to allow aid to pass through.

Hours into the first day of the so-called “humanitarian pauses,” Israeli air raids resumed. “There was an air strike on Gaza City, one of the areas that was designated as a safe area, and where the Israeli forces are going to halt their military operations,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reported from Deir el-Balah.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops continued their parallel campaign of targeted killings, home demolitions and settler violence. Two Palestinian minors were killed by Israeli gunfire in Al-Khader near Bethlehem earlier this week, sparking protests. Mass arrests and home raids continue nightly, with more than 9,000 Palestinians imprisoned under administrative detention—held indefinitely without charge.

While it seeks to starve Palestinians, the Israeli government has also intensified efforts to prevent aid from reaching Gaza. On Sunday, the Israeli military intercepted the Gaza-bound aid ship Handala, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, as it attempted to deliver humanitarian supplies to Palestinians in Gaza.

The ship was boarded by Israeli naval forces in international waters, approximately 40 to 70 nautical miles from Gaza, and then towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod. All 21 people on board—including international activists, journalists and parliamentarians—were detained, and communications from the vessel were cut off during the interception.

Footage from onboard showed armed Israeli personnel boarding while the activists raised their hands in surrender. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition stated that the Handala was carrying life-saving supplies such as baby formula, food and medicine, aiming to provide direct relief to a civilian population suffering acute deprivation under the ongoing blockade.

The organization characterized the seizure as a violation of international maritime law and an act against a peaceful, civilian-led effort to break what they described as an “illegal blockade.” Israeli authorities sought to justify the interception by saying the attempt was perilous, illegal and a threat to ongoing humanitarian operations. It asserted that the ship was unlawfully trying to breach Israeli-imposed maritime restrictions.

The Handala is now the second aid vessel in recent months to be prevented by Israel from reaching Gaza, following a similar incident involving the Madleen in June. Human rights groups said Israel’s action was an unlawful interception in international waters, noting that the flotilla never entered Israeli territorial waters and contending that Israel had no jurisdiction over the area where the ship was seized. The detained activists and journalists remain in Israeli custody as of this writing.