Palestinians ‘starving to death’ in northern Gaza amid Israeli siege

An Oxfam official told Al Jazeera on Sunday Israel is using starvation as a weapon in its genocide against the Palestinians and that the United Kingdom-based NGO was unable to reach people in the north because of Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign.

Mahmoud Alsaqqa, who is Oxfam’s food security and livelihood lead in Gaza, warned that some Palestinians are “starving to death” from hunger in northern Gaza and more people will die in the coming days.

“There is nothing. You are talking about tens of days that they are not receiving any supplies,” he said, adding that most Palestinians in the area rely on aid supplies.

Aid agencies say about 96 percent of Gaza’s population is facing high levels of food shortages. According to UNICEF, nine out of 10 children lack the nutrition they need for growth and development. At least 37 children have died of malnutrition or dehydration in a year of war.

The United Nations says Israel has blocked the entry of 83 percent of food aid into the Strip since the war began. It added about 50,000 children below the age of five need urgent treatment for malnutrition by the end of the year.

On Sunday United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire, for the release of hostages and “accountability for crimes under international law”.

“The devastation and deprivation resulting from Israel’s military operations in North Gaza are making the conditions of life untenable for the Palestinian population there,” he said on X, adding, “This conflict continues to be waged with little regard for the requirements of international humanitarian law.”

The Oxfam warning came as Israeli soldiers bombed more neighbourhoods in northern Gaza on Sunday and humanitarian officials sounded alarm about the ongoing ground assault by Israeli forces which is forcibly displacing tens of thousands of residents out of the area.

Israel’s strikes on the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza have so far killed about 800 Palestinians during the ongoing siege, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said on social media platform X that “the entire population of Gaza is at risk of dying in a genocide that has been announced and executed under our watch”.

Albanese was responding to a statement made by UN humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya on Saturday, warning that “the entire population of north Gaza is at risk of dying” under Israel’s siege.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday noted the ongoing Israeli evacuation orders and restrictions on the entry of essential supplies to the north had left the civilian population in “horrific circumstances”.

“Many civilians are currently unable to move, trapped by fighting, destruction or physical constraint and now lack access to even basic medical care,” it added.

Palestinian health officials say the siege had crippled the healthcare system in northern Gaza and was blocking medical teams from reaching bombed sites.

Israel maintains that its forces have returned to northern Gaza more than a year into the war to root out Hamas fighters who had regrouped there.

Nearly 43,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 100,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the territory’s entire population amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.