“We declare that Israel’s intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza,” said the experts.

“We call upon the international community to prioritise the delivery of humanitarian aid by land by any means necessary, end Israel’s siege and establish a ceasefire,” they added.

Michael Fakhri, the special rapporteur on the right to food, along with other experts such as Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, and Paula Gaviria Betancur, the special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, issued the statement.

At least 33 children, mostly in northern Gaza, have died of malnutrition since the war began in October, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The group of ten rights experts cited the deaths of three children aged thirteen, nine and six months, from malnutrition in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah since the end of May, leading them to assert that a famine is now underway.

“With the death of these children from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that famine has spread from northern Gaza into central and southern Gaza,” the experts stated.

Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva claimed the statement was “misinformation”.

“Israel has continuously scaled up its coordination and assistance in the delivery of humanitarian aid across the Gaza Strip, recently connecting its power line to the Gaza water desalination plant,” the mission noted.

In June a report issued by an independent group of experts known as the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, or Fews Net, warned that famine in Gaza may have been taking place since April, and is likely to continue through July “if there is not a fundamental change in how food assistance is distributed and accessed” after it enters the Strip.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to block the Rafah crossing with Egypt, and restrict aid entry via the Karem Shalom crossing with southern Gaza.

“The population’s access to and utilization of available food assistance has been insufficient to meet the level of need to date, and much more must be done immediately to ensure humanitarian food assistance is distributed effectively once it enters Gaza,” the report reads.

The US-based Fews Net conducted its analysis on famine in Gaza based on three conditions that have to be met – namely food consumption, acute malnutrition, and mortality.

It concluded that the spike in death rates in the besieged enclave is directly linked to the “near” famine levels, and that “extremely high” rates of malnutrition among children will lead to severe physiological impacts.

Famine thresholds had, however, been reached in northern Gaza in April, it added.

The attacks on Tuesday came as Hamas warned that the stepped-up Israeli offensive could jeopardise mediated ceasefire talks, a new round of which is set to begin in the capital of Qatar, Doha.

In the town of Abbasan, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, an Israeli air attack on the al-Awdah school killed at least 30 people and wounded more than 50, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian medics.

Exclusive footage from the school, obtained by Al Jazeera, shows young Palestinians playing football in the building’s yard as dozens of people watch on. Then, a loud explosion is heard, sending people running for cover.

A Palestinian boy told Al Jazeera he lost several relatives in the attack. “We were sitting and a missile fell and destroyed everything,” he said, sobbing.

“I lost my uncle, my cousins and my relatives,” he added.

Elsewhere in Gaza, Israel also bombed the central Bureij camp, killing at least 17 people, 14 of whom were children. Israeli soldiers also raided a house in central Deir el-Balah, killing three more people.

Hamas described the attack on the al-Awda school an “extension of the war of extermination against our people by the Zionist terrorist government” and called on people in Arab and Muslim nations to escalate protests against the war.

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, also condemned the attack, saying in a post on X, “For how long are innocent civilians going to bear the brunt of this conflict?”

He added, “It is imperative to immediately reach a ceasefire to bring respite to hundreds of stranded civilians, free all the hostages, deliver the needed humanitarian aid.”

The attacks come as CIA director William Burns and Israel’s Mossad chief David Barnea prepare to travel to Qatar on Wednesday, after Burns held talks with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo, seeking to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The renewed efforts come after Hamas made concessions last week, including dropping a key demand that Israel commit upfront to an end to the war before signing a ceasefire agreement. Instead, Hamas said it would push for the move in negotiations planned during an initial six-week ceasefire.

But Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the group, stated on Monday that Israel’s escalating assault has threatened talks at a crucial time and could bring negotiations “back to square one”.

Haniyeh, who spoke with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, issued a statement warning “of the disastrous repercussions of what is happening in Gaza City, Rafah and other areas across the Gaza Strip”.

He stressed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “his army bear full responsibility for the collapse of this negotiation path”.

At least 38,243 people have been killed and 88,243 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October. The death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 is estimated at 1,200, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.