Unrelenting Israeli Siege Fuels Mass Deaths among Gaza’s Elderly, Children
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – As the genocidal blockade of Gaza intensifies, international monitors and local health officials warn of a catastrophic surge in deaths from hunger and neglect, disproportionately affecting the elderly and infants.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported an “unprecedented surge” in deaths among Gaza’s elderly, due to starvation, malnutrition, and untreated illnesses as the primary causes.
Its field team documented the deaths of dozens of elderly individuals in displacement camps, often misclassified as natural due to the absence of a formal reporting mechanism and immediate burial practices.
“In the last two weeks alone, hundreds of elderly people have arrived daily at hospitals and clinics in states of extreme exhaustion, desperate for basic nutrition,” the organization said.
The group estimates that approximately 1,200 elderly Palestinians have perished over the past two months due to what it explicitly labels Israel’s starvation policy—a systematic denial of food and medical access that constitutes a clear war crime.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian catastrophe continues to ravage Gaza’s children.
Supplies of infant formula have been completely exhausted.
Mothers, left with no alternatives, are forced to feed their babies water.
Since the beginning of the war, over 88 children have died from starvation, a number that continues to climb.
United Nations food security experts now confirm that the worst-case scenario—famine—is unfolding in real time.
Gaza’s Health Ministry announced that seven additional victims, including children, have died from hunger and malnutrition, bringing the official famine-related death toll to 154.
Of those, 89 are children—killed not by bombs, but by deliberate starvation.
This hunger crisis unfolds amid Israel’s ongoing genocidal war, which has so far killed at least 60,034 Palestinians and wounded more than 145,870.
