In a statement released Tuesday, the ministry said the new numbers have raised the hunger-related death toll in Gaza to 361 since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its ongoing genocide campaign.
According to Press TV, there are at least 130 children among the deaths, highlighting the devastating sacrifices to the most vulnerable.
The ministry added that more than 43,000 children under the age of five are currently suffering from malnutrition, with more than 55,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Two-thirds of pregnant women experience anemia, showing the highest incidence observed in recent years. “Mothers and newborns are at most at risk from malnutrition,” the ministry said.
The ministry said 83 deaths, including 15 children, have been recorded since August 22, the day the United Nations-backed surveillance system, the Integrated Food Security Stages (IPC), officially declared parts of Gaza to be in full-scale hunger.
The IPC assessment found that 514,000 people, almost a quarter of Gaza’s total population, are already facing hunger.
That number is expected to increase to 641,000 by the end of September. The report also warned that the conditions of hunger are likely to spread to Deia El Bala and Karn Yunis within a few weeks.
The starvation crisis has also sparked strong condemnation from the academia. On Monday, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), a network of more than 500 experts, overwhelmingly approved a resolution declaring that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide under the 1948 United Nations Convention.
The resolution won 86% of the vote, urging Israel to end “hunger, humanitarian deprivation, forced displacement and deliberate attacks on civilians.”
“This is a conclusive statement from experts in the field of genocide research that what is happening in Gaza is genocide,” said Melanie O’Brien, professor of IAGS and international law at the University of Western Australia.
MNA