Israeli forces killed 123 Palestinians across Gaza on August 13 alone, including 61 in Gaza City where airstrikes flattened homes in Zeitoun and Shejaia neighborhoods. The dead included 19 aid seekers shot near the Zikim crossing, part of a systematic pattern where 1,838 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food since May. Survivor Mohammed Abu Nahl described crawling through gunfire: "The dead lay beneath us as bullets flew. I came only to feed my children". Simultaneously, starvation claimed six-year-old Jamal Fadi al-Najjar and 30-year-old Wissam Abu Mohsen, raising the famine death toll to 235 (including 106 children).
American pediatrician Dr. Ahmed Yousaf, recently returned from Gaza, revealed Israeli forces conduct "daily targeted shootings" at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution points: "One day, 60 patients arrive with leg wounds; the next, chest or head injuries, as if the shooter chooses how to maim or kill that day". These GHF sites, established by the U.S. and Israel to replace UN aid have become "killing fields" where 13,409+ Palestinians have been wounded. Human Rights Watch confirms these constitute war crimes, with Israel using starvation as "a weapon of war". When aid flows increase briefly, Israel shifts tactics: "We then see mass casualties from airstrikes instead," noted Yousaf.
UN experts accused Israel of "medicide"; deliberately dismantling Gaza’s health system by bombing hospitals, blocking medical supplies, and starving healthcare workers. Israeli border guards even confiscated stethoscopes and baby formula from Dr. Yousaf’s team. Meanwhile, Israel killed five more journalists on August 11, including Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif, bringing total media deaths to 200+. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini condemned Israel’s campaign to "silence witnesses of atrocities" by barring international journalists.
Twenty-four nations condemned Gaza’s "unimaginable suffering," demanding Israel end its blockade. New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon declared Netanyahu had "lost the plot," while Australia joined the UK and France in pledging September recognition of Palestinian statehood. The ICC maintains arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for starvation and persecution, crimes the court called "sinister components of genocide". Despite U.S. sanctions on ICC judges, the court rejected Israel’s bid to quash the warrants in July.