Gaza, May 22, 2025: At least 29 children and elderly people have died of starvation-related causes in the besieged Gaza Strip in recent days, the Palestinian health minister said on Thursday, amid growing fears that thousands more could soon suffer the same fate as humanitarian conditions deteriorate.
Speaking to reporters, Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan echoed recent comments by the UN humanitarian chief, who warned that up to 14,000 babies could die from malnutrition if urgent food aid does not reach the population. Abu Ramadan called the estimate “realistic, if not conservative.”
Israel has recently allowed limited humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza following international outcry over its 11-week total blockade of the enclave. However, UN officials said the aid reaching Gaza is “nowhere near enough” to meet the needs of the population facing mass starvation.
On Thursday, about 90 aid trucks were allowed to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing (known in Arabic as Karem Abu Salem), but very few shipments reached the interior of Gaza, according to Abu Ramadan. “Most of it was flour for bakeries,” he said.
President of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), Younis al-Khatib, confirmed that no civilians had received any aid so far. “The trucks are stuck at the crossing. No supplies have reached the people,” he told reporters.
Despite the limited aid, Israeli airstrikes and shelling continued across Gaza. Medical sources reported that at least 51 Palestinians were killed since dawn on Thursday.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the death toll since the war began in October 2023 has now risen to 53,655, with more than 121,000 injured.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum described the aid deliveries as “a drop in the ocean”. He emphasized that at least 500 aid trucks per day are needed to avert famine in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza resident Ahmed Abed al-Daym welcomed the limited aid as a “positive sign,” but said it was far from sufficient. “There is no bread, and our children are going hungry. Many homes haven’t seen flour in weeks.”
Another resident, Reem Zidiah, painted a bleak picture: “No one is safe. We don’t think about tomorrow because we don’t know if we’ll live to see it.”
Meanwhile, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee announced fresh evacuation orders in Jabalia and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. In a post on social media platform X, he said the Israeli army is preparing to “significantly expand its military activity” in the area.
As fears of a deepening humanitarian catastrophe mount, aid groups and rights organizations are calling for an immediate ceasefire and unhindered access to humanitarian assistance for the two million residents of Gaza, many of whom are now facing starvation, displacement, and ongoing violence.
