Israeli forces have killed at least 60,034 Palestinians since the war on Gaza erupted in October 2023, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health.
The grim milestone was reached on Tuesday, as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global hunger monitoring system, warned in a new report that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera that at least 83 Palestinians, including 33 aid seekers, have been killed since dawn, despite “pauses” in fighting to deliver essential humanitarian aid.
Local accounts indicate that Israel used booby-trapped robots, as well as tanks and drones, in what residents describe as one of the bloodiest nights in recent weeks, said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
“This is a sign of a possible imminent Israeli ground manoeuvre, although Israel has not yet confirmed the objectives of the attack,” he said.
Food consumption has sharply deteriorated, the IPC said in its report, with one in three people going without food for days at a time.
“Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City,” it said.
“Amid relentless conflict, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, and the collapse of essential services, including healthcare, the crisis has reached an alarming and deadly turning point.”
Malnutrition rose rapidly in the first half of July, with more than 20,000 children being admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July. More than 3,000 of them are severely malnourished.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, citing the IPC report, demanded that aid deliveries no longer be blocked or delayed.
“The facts are in – and they are undeniable,” Guterres said in a statement.
“Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes.
“The trickle of aid must become an ocean. Food, water, medicine, and fuel must flow in waves and without obstruction,” he said.
“This nightmare must end. Ending this worst-case scenario will take the best efforts of all parties now.”
Guterres once again called for an “immediate and permanent humanitarian ceasefire”, the unconditional release of all captives and full access for humanitarian agencies across the enclave.
The IPC alert comes against the backdrop of its latest analysis released in May, which projected that by September, the entire population of Gaza would face high levels of acute food shortages, with more than 500,000 people expected to be in a state of extreme food deprivation, starvation and destitution, unless Israel lifts its blockade and stops its military campaign.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and humanitarian blockade, which it partially lifted in March, continues to plunge the Palestinian territory into an increasingly dire malnutrition crisis, as at least 147 people, including 88 children, have died from malnutrition since the start of the war, Gaza’s Health Ministry s