Palestinian health minister reports 29 ‘starvation-related’ deaths in Gaza

At least 29 children and elderly people have died from “starvation-related” deaths in the Gaza Strip in recent days, the Palestinian health minister says, warning that thousands more are at risk as limited aid begins trickling into the bombarded enclave.

Majed Abu Ramadan told reporters on Thursday that earlier comments by the United Nations aid chief to the BBC that 14,000 babies could die without desperately needed food aid were “very realistic”, but could be an underestimation.

Israel has allowed limited deliveries of humanitarian assistance into Gaza amid a wave of international condemnation of its 11-week total blockade on the territory, which spurred warnings of mass famine.

But UN officials have said the aid entering Gaza is “nowhere near enough” to meet the needs of the population in the war-torn enclave.

About 90 truckloads of aid entered Gaza on Thursday, but Abu Ramadan said most of what was allowed in was limited to “flour for bakeries”.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday afternoon that “a handful of bakeries in Gaza are baking bread again after receiving limited supplies overnight”.