The Gaza Strip reels under relentless Israeli attacks, with the Palestinian Ministry of Health reporting 60 deaths and 344 injuries in the past 24 hours as of August 18, 2025.
Among the casualties, 19 Palestinians, including eight seeking humanitarian aid, were killed in strikes across the region since Monday dawn.
The ministry notes that many victims remain trapped under rubble, unreachable by ambulance and Civil Defence crews due to ongoing bombardments.
Since the collapse of the March 18, 2025 ceasefire, Israel’s intensified offensive has claimed 10,460 lives and injured 44,189, pushing the total death toll since October 7, 2023, to 62,004, with 156,230 wounded.
The targeting of aid seekers has been particularly devastating, with 1,965 killed and over 14,701 injured near aid distribution sites, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
Amnesty International has stated that Israel is waging a “deliberate campaign of starvation” in Gaza, citing evidence of systematic destruction of the health, wellbeing, and social fabric of Palestinian life.
The group’s report, based on interviews with displaced Palestinians and medical staff, describes Israel’s actions as part of a broader policy to “inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction.”
In the past 24 hours alone, five Palestinians, including two children, died from malnutrition, bringing the total hunger-related deaths to 263, with 112 children among them.
The illegal blockade, tightened since 2007 and severely restricted since the war’s onset, allows only a trickle of aid, leaving 2.1 million people on the brink of famine.
Despite international outcry, including from Britain, Canada, and the EU, Israel denies claims of deliberate starvation, rejecting reports of widespread malnutrition.
Israel’s plan to seize Gaza City, home to nearly one million people, threatens mass displacement, with residents facing unbearable choices.
Mohammed Abu al-Ata, a displaced Palestinian, told Al Jazeera, “We are very, very tired, by God, we are really very tired of what is happening in the Gaza Strip. We are sick of war, sick of leaving.”
Another resident, Atef Maarouf, highlighted the financial burden of displacement, saying, “By God, it costs you … you need up to $440 for a tent. And this displacement, I don’t like it. Where would we go?”
Amnesty’s report quotes Hadeel, a pregnant mother, fearing for her unborn child’s health amid hunger and displacement.
The human rights group calls for an immediate end to the blockade and a sustained ceasefire to reverse Israel’s “inhumane policies,” warning that the ongoing offensive constitutes a “livestreamed genocide” against Palestinians.
The international community has intensified its criticism, with the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes.
Foreign ministers from two dozen countries, including Japan and Australia, have demanded unrestricted aid access, declaring that “famine is unfolding before our eyes.”
Yet, Israel’s military continues to reject accusations of starvation policies, despite evidence of 250 hunger-related deaths, including 110 children.
As Gaza City braces for a potential full-scale invasion, the testimonies of Palestinians reveal a population pushed to the edge, with Amnesty’s Erika Guevara Rosas condemning an “international system that has granted Israel a license to torment Palestinians with near-total impunity for decades.”