Amnesty International Warns Gazans To Face Mass Starvation

World Food Program provides food assistance for children in Gaza. (WFP/Ali Jadallah)

Amnesty International has warned Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to face mass hunger, calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, as well as unrestricted access and distribution of humanitarian aid.

In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, the organization criticized the Israeli military for blocking aid deliveries, bombing shelters, to the use of food, water, and medicines as weapons of war.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health Hamas on Tuesday said hospitals in Gaza had recorded 15 deaths, including four children, "due to hunger and malnutrition" in the past 24 hours, adding it brought the total number of cases since the start of the war to 101, "including 80 children."

On Wednesday, 111 humanitarian groups called for governments from various countries around the world to take action as hunger spreads across the Gaza Strip, Palestine, including demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire as well as lifting all restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid.

In a statement signed by the Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, and Refugees International, the groups warned that mass hunger was spreading in the Palestinian enclave, when tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, and other items were abandoned outside Gaza because humanitarian organizations were blocked from accessing or sending them.

The organizations call for the government to demand the lifting of all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions, the opening of all land crossings, guarantees of access to all people in Gaza, the rejection of military-controlled distributions, and the restoration of "the principled and led humanitarian response of the United Nations."

Countries must take concrete steps to end the siege, such as stopping the transfer of weapons and ammunition, they said.

Israel, which controls all supplies entering Gaza, denies responsibility for food shortages.

Senior Israeli security officials said on Tuesday the country's military had not identified hunger in the Gaza Strip, amid criticism of unprecedented hunger in Palestine, but stressed the need for action to "stabilize the humanitarian situation," quoted by The Times of Israel.

The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, acknowledged recently there had been a significant decline in the amount of aid reaching Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but blamed the United Nations agencies for not collecting and distributing food and supplies.

This call comes exactly two months after the launch of Israel-controlled and US-backed "Gaza Humanitarian Organization" (GHF), which aid groups say has failed to ensure proper aid deliveries.