More than 65,000 children in Gaza have been hospitalized with severe malnutrition, as hunger and deprivation continue to spiral under Israel’s sustained blockade and military onslaught, according to a statement issued Monday by the Gaza Government Media Office.

The statement accused Israel of deliberately using hunger and dehydration as instruments of war, in breach of international humanitarian law.

It warned that the ongoing closure of all border crossings has triggered a disastrous decline in health conditions—especially among children and infants—by cutting off the population from food, medical aid, and clean water.

The media office said that around 1.1 million people in Gaza, half of them children, are facing chronic hunger due to the complete blockade imposed by Israel.

It held Israel fully responsible for the worsening humanitarian crisis and the direct threat posed to the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including women, children, and the elderly.

Officials urgently called for the reopening of all border crossings to allow for the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid, medical equipment, and nutritional supplements. These, they stressed, are vital to preventing further loss of life and to halting the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.

Human rights groups have also reported a dramatic collapse of living conditions in Gaza since March 2, when Israel completely shut down the territory’s main border crossings. The blockade has left Gaza’s population without access to essential goods, including food and medicines, exacerbating the suffering of those already displaced and under siege.

Since the launch of its military offensive in October 2023, Israel has killed more than 52,300 Palestinians in Gaza, the majority of whom are women and children, according to local health authorities.