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Here’s where things stand on Wednesday 23 July 2025:
- Israeli forces continue bombarding Gaza as 109 aid groups call for action against Israel, warning that “mass starvation is spreading” across the enclave.
- At least 10 Palestinians have died of starvation in the past 24 hours in Gaza, bringing the death toll from hunger to 111, including at least 80 children, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
- The EU has warned Israel of action over the worsening starvation crisis in Gaza, as the US said Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, will head to Europe for ceasefire talks and an aid “corridor”.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 59,106 people and wounded 142,511. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Number of journalists killed in Gaza rises to 231: Media Office
Gaza’s Government Media Office has announced the Israeli killing of two Palestinian journalists, Tamer al-Za’anin and Walaa al-Jabari, raising the number of media workers killed in the enclave since October 2023 to 231.
The statement published on Telegram said al-Za’anin was a photojournalist with various media organisations, while al-Jabari worked as a newspaper editor with several media outlets.
“The Government Media Office condemns in the strongest terms the systematic targeting, killing and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the ‘Israeli’ occupation,” it said.
What does starvation do to the human body?
The Gaza Strip is experiencing a starvation crisis amid a nearly five-month blockade by Israel on food, fuel, water and other humanitarian supplies entering.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Monday that “starvation is knocking on every door” in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Starvation occurs when the human body is deprived of food for an extended period, resulting in severe health issues and often leading to death.
Estimates suggest that the body can survive up to three weeks without food, although the actual duration varies among individuals.
Starvation occurs over three stages. The first begins as early as when a meal is skipped; the second occurs with a prolonged period of fasting where the body uses stored fat for energy.
The third, and often fatal, stage is when all stored fats have been depleted and the body turns to bone and muscle as sources of energy.
Number of people starved to death in Gaza rises to 111: Ministry
Ten new deaths linked to famine and malnutrition have been recorded during the past 24 hours by hospitals in the Gaza Strip, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
The count brings the total number of people starved to death in the territory to 111, the statement published on Telegram said.
Israeli army says it is ‘intensifying operations’ in northern Gaza City
The Israeli army has issued a new statement about its military offensive in Gaza.
It said Israeli troops are “intensifying operations” in northern Gaza City and claimed killing a number of Hamas fighters in Jabalia, in northern Gaza. There was no immediate reaction by the Palestinian group.
The army also said it had attacked 120 “terror targets” in the past 24 hours, including dozens in southern Gaza.
In its daily update yesterday, the Health Ministry in Gaza said more than 70 people were killed in Israeli attacks during the latest 24-hour reporting period, including five aid seekers.
What is famine and why has it not officially been declared in Gaza?
Famine refers to extreme and widespread shortages of food that result in malnutrition, starvation and even death.
It is formally declared by governments in affected areas as well as by UN agencies.
According to the UN’s criteria, famine is declared when:
- At least 20 percent (one-fifth) of households face extreme food shortages
- More than 30 percent of children suffer from acute malnutrition
- At least two out of every 10,000 people or four out of every 10,000 children die each day from starvation or hunger-related causes.
While local authorities in Gaza and individual human rights experts at the UN have said the situation in the besieged enclave – where at least 15 people died of hunger on Tuesday alone – amounts to a famine, there has been no formal declaration yet.
Analysts say this could be because Israel has severely limited access to the Gaza Strip, making it difficult for bodies that would usually formally declare a famine to collect and analyse the relevant data.
But Moncef Khane, a former UN official, writing for Al Jazeera, says political and personal considerations could be at play, including worries of action by the US, Israel’s staunchest ally.
Washington has already imposed sanctions on UN expert Francesca Albanese for her criticism of Israel, as well as the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan for seeking an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on allegations of war crimes in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war.
At least 31 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces so far today
The number of people killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza so far today has risen to at least 31, medical sources have told Al Jazeera.
The previous death toll stood at 21 people, including two aid seekers.
Gaza medics, journalists continue working despite hunger
In Gaza, even those who are saving lives are starving.
Raja al-Attar, an ambulance driver, is still responding to calls, still saving lives, despite being hungry himself.
”We continue our work despite the spreading famine and the severe shortage of food supplies. I haven’t had a single meal in the past two days, and I’m barely holding on,” he said. “My family is also struggling – they can’t access even the most basic necessities. We were forced to flee our home in Deir el-Balah because of the ongoing military operation. Right now, I’m sleeping at my workplace, because there’s nowhere else to go.”
Journalists, too, are battling to find loaves of bread to keep them on their feet to report on the worsening crisis.
“Working amid this famine is not just difficult; it’s a heavy burden we carry every day to keep reporting,” said Nour Swirki. “We already spend most of our time in the field, and now that work is made even harder by the constant search for food. In Gaza today, finding even one meal feels like a miracle.”
Gaza’s generation of amputees
On February 13, 2024, Al Jazeera’s Ismail Abu Omar lost his leg in an Israeli air attack while reporting in Gaza.
He speaks about his experience, and of the resilience of Palestinians and Gaza’s rising population of amputees.
‘Israel is killing us either with bombs or by starving us’
Another Palestinian has died from starvation in Gaza.
Ahmed al-Hassnat, whose condition began to deteriorate three months ago following Israel’s total blockade, passed away today.
“Ahmed was suffering from severe malnutrition. For the past four months, Gaza hasn’t received enough food,” said his cousin, Refat al-Hassnat. “He didn’t have access to proper food, clean water, or even basic medicine. Israel is killing us either with bombs or by starving us.”
As we’ve been reporting, at least 101 Palestinians have died from starvation in Gaza, including 80 children. Most of the deaths have been in recent weeks.
Sanctions needed to stop Israeli policy of starvation in Gaza
Condemnation is not enough to stop the Israeli government from committing “genocide and starvation” in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli analyst Menachem Klein.
“What is needed is taking action, sanctions against this Israeli policy,” Klein, a professor of political science at Bar Ilan University, told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem.
“Domestic civil society pressure is in place but it is done by very few civil society organisations,” he added.
“Generally speaking, Israeli society is a genocidal society. It is the end result of ongoing, almost two years of dehumanisation of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
Photos: Aftermath of Israeli strike on family home in Gaza City
‘Nightmare with no end’: Impunity and inaction allow Israel to starve Gaza people
Gaza is at the “peak level of starvation“, where people are starting to “drop dead”, Mara Bernasconi, the regional communications and advocacy manager for Humanity & Inclusion UK, an NGO with teams working in Gaza, has told Al Jazeera.
She said humanitarian workers living in Gaza are not excluded from this suffering and have experienced “death, hunger, displacement, danger” for 21 months of war.
“They’re incredibly brave and strong, and in the past months, they served people in need while trying to survive, but they are collapsing as well,” she said.
Humanity & Inclusion UK works with explosive ordinance risk education and physical rehabilitation, she explained, adding that the work requires a lot of “strength, concentration – and our colleagues are physically and mentally depleted”.
“They are struggling to concentrate and function because they face directly the effect of dehydration and malnutrition, and we are watching them starve to death, and it’s insane, because this is a man-made humanitarian crisis and is deteriorating daily because it’s allowed by impunity and inaction,” Bernasconi said.
“One colleague told me two days ago, there are no more tools to use. It’s a nightmare with no end.”
Church leaders slam ‘morally unacceptable’ situation in Gaza after visit
The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, have described the situation in Gaza as “morally unacceptable” after returning from a visit to the Palestinian enclave.
Pizzaballa, who is the most senior Catholic authority in the region, and Theophilos III visited Gaza on Friday after an Israeli attack on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City killed at least three people.
“Humanitarian aid is not only necessary; it is a matter of life and death,” Pizzaballa told reporters in Jerusalem.
“Refusing it is not a delay, but a sentence. Every hour without food, water, medicine and shelter causes deep harm. We have seen it – men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal. This is humiliation that is hard to bear when you see it with your own eyes. It is morally unacceptable and unjustifiable.”
The cardinal said “it is time to end this nonsense and the war,” urging all the international leaders, particularly the US president, “to be proactive and to take an important role in order to stop this devastation”.
Time in Gaza is made of ‘blood, tears and hunger’
“There is no voice louder than hunger,” the Arabic proverb goes.
Now, it has become a painful truth surrounding us, drawing closer with each passing day.
I never imagined that hunger could be more terrifying than the bombs and killing. This weapon caught us off-guard, something we never thought would be more brutal than anything else we’ve faced in this endless war.
It’s been four months without a single full meal for my family, nothing that meets even the basic needs on Maslow’s hierarchy.
Read more here.
