"The Gaza Strip is experiencing a state of severe malnutrition, marked by a sharp increase in the death toll in July," the World Health Organization said in a statement on Sunday, stressing that "the deliberate blockade of aid has claimed many lives, and this could have been avoided."
The statement noted that "most of the people died upon arrival at health facilities, or died shortly thereafter, and their bodies showed clear signs of extreme weakness."
For its part, the international relief organization Oxfam stressed that the airdrops of aid authorized by the Israeli occupation army do not address months of deliberate starvation in Gaza.
Bushra Khalidi, the organization's policy director, stated that airdrops of aid and a few aid trucks cannot compensate for months of deliberate starvation in Gaza.
"What we need is the immediate opening of all crossings to allow for the full, unhindered, and safe delivery of aid, and the establishment of a permanent ceasefire," she said.
On Saturday evening, the Israeli occupation army allowed limited airdrops of aid to Gaza.
This comes amid mounting regional and international pressure as a result of the worsening famine in the Gaza Strip and warnings of the threat of mass death threatening more than 100,000 children there.
The Gaza Strip is experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in its history, with a severe famine intertwined with a war of extermination waged by Israel since October 7, 2023.
With the complete closure of crossings and the ban on the entry of food and medicine since March 2, famine has spread throughout the Gaza Strip, and symptoms of severe malnutrition have appeared among children and patients.
According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, released on Sunday, the death toll from famine and malnutrition since October 7, 2023, has risen to 133 Palestinians, including 87 children.
This comes at a time when Israel, with US support, is waging a war of extermination in Gaza, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt the campaign.
The US-backed genocide left more than 204,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 9,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that claimed the lives of many.
