Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip, systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life, Amnesty International said today as it published chilling new testimonies of starved displaced civilians.

Amnesty said their accounts underscore the organization’s “repeated findings that the deadly combination of hunger and disease is not an unfortunate byproduct of Israel’s military operations. It is the intended outcome of plans and policies that Israel has designed and implemented, over the past 22 months, to deliberately inflict on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction – which is part and parcel of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International, said: “As Israeli authorities threaten to launch a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza City, the testimonies we have collected are far more than accounts of suffering, they are a searing indictment of an international system that has granted Israel a license to torment Palestinians with near-total impunity for decades.”

“To even begin reversing the devastating consequences of Israel’s inhumane policies and actions, which have made mass starvation a grim reality in Gaza, there must be an immediate, unconditional lifting of the blockade and a sustained ceasefire”, she said. “The impact of Israel’s blockade and its ongoing genocide on civilians, particularly on children, people with disabilities, those with chronic illnesses, older people and pregnant and breastfeeding women is catastrophic and cannot be undone by simply increasing the number of aid trucks or restoring performative, ineffective and dangerous airdrops of aid.”

“Healthcare facilities must be equipped with the supplies and equipment they need to function. Civilians must be freed from the constant threat of mass displacement. Trusted humanitarian organizations must be allowed to deliver aid and shelter safely and without arbitrary restrictions, in a way that respects the dignity and humanity of the civilian population. Most urgently, any plan to entrench the occupation of Gaza or escalate the military offensive must be halted”, added Erika.

“While millions around the world continue to take to the streets in protest and world leaders engage in rhetorical posturing, Israel’s deliberate and systematic campaign of starvation continues to inflict unbearable suffering on an entire population. Palestinian children are being left to waste away, forcing families into an impossible choice: helplessly hearing the cries of their emaciated children pleading for food, or risking death or injury in a desperate search for aid”, she said.

Over the last few weeks, Amnesty International interviewed 19 Palestinians, who are now residing in three makeshift camps for internally displaced people (IDPs), as well as two medical staff members treating malnourished children in two hospitals in Gaza City.

As of 17 August, the Ministry of Health in Gaza recorded the deaths of 110 children from malnutrition-related complications.

In an alert published on 29 July 2025, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) stated that famine thresholds had been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza, concluding that the worst-case scenario for famine is already playing out and the number of people, including children, dying from starvation will continue to increase.

This alarming reality was reflected in data collected by the Nutrition Cluster, according to which nearly 13,000 cases of acute malnutrition admissions for treatment among children were recorded in July, the highest monthly figure since October 2023. Of those, at least 2,800 (22%) were cases of severe acute malnutrition.

“Israeli authorities have further exacerbated the inhumane conditions that their policies have created by continuing to obstruct the work of most major humanitarian organizations and UN agencies inside Gaza, including by repeatedly rejecting their requests to bring in lifesaving aid into Gaza”, said Amnesty.

“Most families in Gaza are beyond breaking point. They have already exhausted whatever scant resources they had and are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. The restrictions that the Israeli authorities impose on the work of major humanitarian organizations and their threats to ban them effectively cut off these families from their only lifeline,” said Erika Guevara Rosas.

The combined impact of Israel’s policies of mass starvation, multiple forced displacements and restrictions on access to life-saving aid has been particularly devastating for pregnant and breastfeeding women. Of the 747 pregnant and breastfeeding women that Save the Children screened in its clinics during the first half of July, 323 (43%) were malnourished.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women interviewed by Amnesty International spoke about the extreme scarcity of items indispensable to their survival, the agonizing reality of being a pregnant or new mother while living in a tent in the extreme summer heat, and the desperate daily struggle to secure food, baby formula and clean water.

They also shared feelings of guilt for failing to provide for their children, fears over who would care for their children if they were killed, and anxiety over the impact of malnutrition on the growth and wellbeing of their children.

Since launching its assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023, the Israeli military has killed more than 61,900 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children. The continued bombardment has devastated Gaza’s infrastructure and left the population facing an imminent famine.