Hamas warns more than 2mn Palestinians face death from hunger, thirst amid Israeli war on Gaza

“Over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza face the risk of death from hunger and thirst due to the Israeli occupation’s denial of aid delivery and restrictions on access to medicine, food and water,” Hamas said in a statement.

The group warned that children in Gaza are dying of hunger, and families are on the verge of famine amid a lack of basic essentials for survival.

According to a previous statement by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), 30 humanitarian aid trucks at most enter Gaza per day, a trickle that is very far from meeting the needs of the people there. Before October 2023, hundreds crossed the border every day to feed the enclave’s over 2 million people.

Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, numerous international and UN groups have called on Israel to facilitate humanitarian aid entry into Gaza in order to avoid a famine.

Israel launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October, so far killing over 44,300 people, most of them women and children, and injuring nearly 105,000.

The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions calling the attacks and blocking of humanitarian aid a deliberate attempt to destroy the population.

Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.