Gaza: The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stated that it has documented a severe upsurge in natural deaths among adult residents of Gaza, along with alarming levels of child mortality, during the longest uninterrupted all-out siege imposed by the Israeli occupation forces since the onset of the genocide.
According to Qatar News Agency, the Euro-Med Monitor warned that famine in the Gaza Strip is aggravating to catastrophic levels, amid the continued imposition of an unlawful, all-encompassing blockade by the Israeli occupation forces for 62 consecutive days, and the persistent obstruction of humanitarian aid, life-saving medicines, and essential supplies. Euro-Med Monitor recorded dozens of mortalities, either due to malnutrition or the dearth of essential healthcare and medicines.
The latest victim was a four-month-old female infant who died at Ranteesi Specialist Hospital due to malnutrition, amid the worst systematic starving campaign in modern history. Euro-Med Monitor appealed to all world nations and relevant international organizations to act swiftly to break the unlawful Israeli land, sea, and air blockade imposed on the enclave, stressing that this act constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and is being wielded as a tool to starve the civilian population in the context of the ongoing genocide.
In addition, Euro-Med Monitor called for ending the full closure of all crossings immediately and allowing the unhindered access of food, water, and medicines before the outbreak of severe malnutrition morphs into more lethal conditions that endanger lives on a large scale. Since March 2, Israel has barred the entry of all commercial and humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip. Food stocks are nearing depletion, while prices have surged by over 500 percent since October 2023, exacerbating malnutrition, particularly among children, pregnant women, the sick, and the elderly, who represent the most vulnerable segments of the population impacted by the crisis, Euro-Med Monitor noted.
It further warned that the ramifications of this policy are not limited to the present but extend to undermining the future of the Palestinian people as a national group, by producing an entire generation at risk of long-term physical, psychological, and cognitive impairments as a result of chronic malnutrition, the collapse of healthcare services, and sustained collective trauma. The rights monitor emphasized that these outcomes are not incidental, but rather constitute a direct manifestation of a policy intended to stunt individuals within the community and dismantle the biological and social foundations of the Palestinian group.
According to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, approximately 60,000 severely undernourished children are in need of treatment, while roughly 16,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women require urgent medical care. Families across various parts of the Palestinian enclave are facing unimaginable hardships as the famine crisis intensifies in parallel with the continuous mass displacement, the collapse of the healthcare system, and the unabated Israeli military offensives, Euro-Med Monitor warned.
Euro-Med Monitor noted that community kitchens in the Gaza Strip have been among the hardest-hit sectors. Once a vital lifeline for hundreds of thousands of displaced and vulnerable individuals, providing tens of thousands of meals daily, they have now ceased operations entirely, with nothing left to distribute, rendering the impact of their loss even more devastating amid the sweeping famine engulfing the Strip. The tightened Israeli blockade on the enclave has triggered severe shortages of essential food staples needed for survival, such as grains, while agricultural infrastructure has been decimated by direct bombardment. Consequently, many Gazans have resorted to selling off their basic possessions to secure food, in a stark indicator of the impending collapse of coping mechanisms, Euro-Med Monitor said.
It added that families in Gaza have been forced to reduce their daily meals to the minimum threshold, drastically losing weight and relying almost entirely on canned goods amid widespread shortages of fresh, nutritious items, with Israeli forces escalating airstrikes on charitable soup kitchens, depriving many families of their last remaining source of daily sustenance. Furthermore, Euro-Med Monitor called for international action to compel the Israeli entity to fully lift the blockade and rescue the Palestinian population from the destabilizing actions aimed at slowly killing and displacing them.
It also urged the international community to impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on the Israeli occupation forces in response to their systematic and egregious breaches of international law, including an arms embargo, suspension of military cooperation, and the freezing of financial assets belonging to officials involved in crimes against the Palestinian people. This is in addition to the suspension of trade privileges and bilateral agreements that grant Israel economic advantages, as a means of intensifying pressure to compel an end to its crimes against the Palestinian people.