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A 14-year-old Palestinian child has died from malnutrition and hunger in the besieged Gaza Strip, where humanitarian access remains heavily restricted and famine continues to spread, local medical sources reported Thursday.
The boy, identified as Abdulkadir al-Fayumi, died at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, according to a report by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. He is the latest victim of acute hunger, which has been exacerbated by Israeli military operations and limitations on aid delivery.
Since Israel launched its assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023, at least 114 Palestinians — including 82 children — have died due to hunger and malnutrition, the report said.
The Gaza Strip, home to nearly 2.3 million people, remains under an intense Israeli blockade that has severely limited access to food, clean water, medical supplies, and hygiene products. Local and international observers have accused Israel of using starvation and thirst as weapons of war.
Humanitarian organizations say famine is now widespread across Gaza, with conditions rapidly deteriorating in shelters where displaced civilians — most of whom have been forced from their homes multiple times — live in overcrowded, unsanitary spaces.
According to Palestinian officials, nearly 2 million people have been displaced since the beginning of the war, many of them taking refuge in makeshift tents or overburdened schools. Infectious diseases are spreading rapidly due to a lack of hygiene infrastructure and essential resources.
Despite repeated international calls for a ceasefire and unrestricted aid access, the Israeli military continues its daily bombardments, often targeting civilian shelters and displacement camps.
Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza — which has led to widespread famine, lack of medicine, and civilian deaths from hunger — may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law, legal experts and global institutions warn.
According to the Geneva Conventions, occupying powers are obligated to ensure the basic needs of civilians under their control. Blocking aid convoys and denying access to food, water, and medicine directly violates these principles.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to allow the “unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid” into the besieged enclave. However, human rights organizations say these legally binding rulings have not been fully implemented on the ground.
Legal scholars have also raised the possibility that Israel’s actions may meet the definition of genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention. That includes "deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about a group’s physical destruction in whole or in part."
In a case brought before the ICJ by South Africa, Israel is accused of committing genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza — a charge Israel denies.
Former U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths recently described the deliberate starvation of civilians in Gaza as "the greatest crime of the 21st century" and an unmistakable act of genocide.
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