For over eight months, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has been enforcing a stringent siege on the Gaza Strip to severely restrict the flow of life-saving and essential food and medical supply deliveries. The siege has been particularly harsh on northern Gaza, an area Israel attempted to depopulate of its more than one million residents at the start of the war in October. Aside from relentless bombardments and deliberate targeting of hospitals, the IDF has been using starvation as a weapon of war. (Related: WHO accuses Israel of inflicting ACUTE MALNUTRITION on more than 8,000 Palestinian children under 5 years old.)
The hunger crisis in Gaza reached its peak in March, with dozens of children dying from malnutrition and residents resorting to eating grass, as Israeli forces repeatedly attacked aid-seeking individuals. Israel slightly improved food access in some areas after its forces killed several foreign aid workers and a United Nations report warned of an impending famine. But then, its ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, including its capture of the Rafah crossing, has further restricted the few remaining routes for humanitarian aid.
Additionally, the Gaza media office announced that no aid has entered the Strip in the last 50 days. This, in turn, resulted in at least four other children dying from malnutrition in the week before the death of Azzam.
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According to Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera correspondent in the Gaza Strip, Azzam passed away at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza on June 25, while the hunger crisis raged during the Israeli offensive on the besieged enclave. In a heartbreaking video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Azzam's body shows how he suffered from severe malnutrition, lying flat on a table, his cheeks sunken, his rib cage protruding and his arms shriveled and lifeless.
"Azzam al-Shaer died of malnutrition as a result of the ongoing hunger war practiced by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza," al-Ghoul wrote on X. "This child was deprived of treatment due to the ongoing siege and could not find medicine due to the destruction of hospitals and the health sector."
Azzam's death serves as evidence to the IPC report, revealing the true situation of Gazans
The death of Azzam and the accompanying video put a face to a recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, which stated that nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip is experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity or worse, with half a million people facing starvation.
The IPC report, released on the same day Azzam died, described the situation in Gaza as "catastrophic," with nearly half a million people expected to face the most severe level of hunger, where they will experience extreme food shortages, starvation and a collapse of coping mechanisms. IPC also reveals that 96 percent of the population, some 2.15 million people, will endure crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity at least through the end of September.
"The last few months have demonstrated that food and humanitarian access and malnutrition prevalence can change very quickly; the risk of epidemics is increasing and eight months of extreme pressure on the lives of the population make them much more vulnerable to collapse into famine," reads the report.
Aside from the death of Azzam, the findings also align with on-the-ground testimonies about the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Nearly nine months of bombardment and siege by Israel have decimated the health care system, damaged water infrastructure and created severe hardship for over 2.2 million people. Increased attacks in Rafah have caused mass displacement and outbreaks of infectious diseases in overcrowded tent camps lacking basic sanitation. Without signs of an imminent ceasefire, relief workers anticipate worsening civilian suffering.
"The humanitarian space in the Gaza Strip continues to shrink and the ability to safely deliver assistance to populations is dwindling. The recent trajectory is negative and highly unstable," warned the report. "Should this continue, the improvements seen in April could be rapidly reversed."
Follow IsraelCollapse.com for more news about the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Watch Robert Inlakesh explaining the UN's decision to add Israel to the blacklist of countries harming children below.
This video is from the CreeperStatus channel on Brighteon.com.
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