Hunger crisis in Gaza: What to know

WASHINGTON, United States — Children have begun starving to death in Gaza, where the United Nations has warned a famine is "almost inevitable."

Here's what to know about the hunger crisis engulfing the war-torn Palestinian territory.

At least 15 children have died from starvation and dehydration in a single hospital, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Media including AFP have captured haunting images of emaciated infants with sunken eyes and gaunt faces.

Over the weekend, World Health Organization workers were able to visit hospitals in northern Gaza for the first time since October, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday on X.

He said the workers found "severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed."

Across Gaza, 90 percent of children aged 6–23 months and pregnant and breastfeeding women face severe food poverty, according to a report released two weeks ago by the Global Nutrition Cluster, a network of nutrition NGOs led by UNICEF.

At least 90 percent of children under five are affected by one or more infectious diseases, it added.

Aid organizations working on the ground blame Israel, which is waging a war against Hamas in the wake of the October 7 attacks, for preventing enough food trucks from entering Gaza.

"As the occupying power in Gaza, Israel has the responsibility to ensure that the occupied population receives food and medical supplies," the International Rescue Committee told AFP in a statement.

"Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions, is a war crime."

At the start of the conflict, high-ranking Israeli officials such as defense minister Yoav Gallant, openly called for a "complete siege" to deprive Palestinians of food, fuel and water. But officials have since walked back that rhetoric.

"Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said recently, adding Israel was "facilitating aid."

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