More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to access food in the war-torn Gaza Strip, most of them near humanitarian aid sites, the UN Human Rights Office reported Tuesday, as starvation and desperation deepen in the besieged territory.
The latest toll underscores the spiraling humanitarian crisis in Gaza, home to over 2 million people, amid a near-total blockade and continued military assault by Israel. The violence around aid distributions has intensified, with lawlessness, looting, and growing crowds overwhelming distribution points.
Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday alone claimed at least 25 more lives, according to Gaza health authorities.
Mounting Toll of Hunger and Conflict
The UN says at least 1,054 Palestinians have died since late May while attempting to secure food, with 766 of those deaths occurring at or near sites managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-backed Israeli contractor. The remaining deaths occurred around UN-managed convoys or distribution points.
Eyewitnesses and medics report that Israeli forces frequently fire on crowds seeking food. The Israeli military, however, claims it only fires warning shots, while GHF denies targeting civilians, stating that its contractors have occasionally fired into the air to prevent stampedes.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that at least 101 people, including 80 children, have died in recent days from starvation. Though these figures cannot be independently verified, aid groups say famine conditions are clearly present, with limited food, medicine, and water pushing Gaza into catastrophe.
“This is a man-made disaster,” said Joseph Belliveau, executive director of MedGlobal, a humanitarian group working inside Gaza. “Children are dying because there isn’t enough food or medical supplies to save them.”
The UN World Food Programme described the hunger crisis as having reached “astonishing levels of desperation,” with nearly 100,000 women and children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and one-third of the population regularly going without food for days.
Strikes Target Aid Seekers and Displaced Families
Israeli strikes on Tuesday added to the death toll. In one incident, 12 people — including three children and three women — were killed when tents in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp were struck. Dozens more were injured. The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of such a strike.
Elsewhere, an overnight airstrike targeted crowds waiting for aid trucks, killing eight and injuring at least 118, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Witnesses described scenes of chaos and trampling as people scrambled for flour.
“A bag of flour soaked in blood,” said Mohammad Issam, one of the survivors. “How long must we live like this?”
International Outcry Over Israel’s Aid Policies
A joint statement from 28 Western-aligned nations, including the UK and France, condemned Israel’s “drip feeding of aid” and accused it of depriving civilians of their dignity and survival. The statement criticized Israel’s handling of aid deliveries as dangerous and destabilizing.
Israel, backed by the US, rejected the criticism, placing blame on Hamas for prolonging the war by refusing ceasefire terms and withholding hostages taken during the October 7, 2023, attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped. Less than half of those hostages are believed to still be alive.
Israel claims it has permitted thousands of aid trucks into Gaza but says delivery delays stem from mismanagement by humanitarian agencies. Aid groups insist the aid allowed in is nowhere near enough to meet urgent needs.
Truce Talks and Escalation
Talks aimed at reaching a new ceasefire continue to stall despite US pressure. Israel resumed its offensive in March following a brief pause in hostilities. It maintains that military operations will continue until Hamas is dismantled.
The Gaza Health Ministry reports that over 59,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. Although the figures do not separate combatants from civilians, the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. These numbers are widely regarded as credible by the UN and other international observers.
As Gaza’s humanitarian collapse deepens, aid workers, rights groups, and foreign governments are urging immediate and large-scale relief efforts — and a meaningful ceasefire — before more lives are lost to bullets and hunger alike.