Medical sources announced today, Friday, the death of a child due to famine and drought, bringing the number of victims of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip to 40.

The same sources said that a child died as a result of malnutrition, dehydration, and a lack of medical supplies at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

The Gaza Strip has been subjected to continuous Israeli aggression, since October 7, and has been subjected to extremely difficult humanitarian conditions, amounting to famine, in light of the severe scarcity of food, water, medicine, and fuel supplies.

Medical sources had previously announced that fifty children were suffering from malnutrition and starvation in the northern Gaza Strip.

Quoting medical sources at Kamal Adwan Hospital, “Symptoms of malnutrition have been recorded in more than 200 children in the Gaza Strip, a humanitarian disaster is facing the northern Gaza Strip, and the specter of famine looms on the horizon.”

The population of the northern Gaza Strip, numbering about 700,000 people, suffers from a severe shortage of food and vegetables, as a result of Israel's continued closure of border crossings and the failure of trucks to enter the north, which brings the "specter of famine" to the forefront again, according to local officials and international organizations.

On May 7, the occupation forces occupied the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, which led to the cessation of the flow of aid to the Strip and the travel of the wounded and sick abroad to receive treatment, and exacerbated the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, specifically in the north, after citizens exhausted what they had left. Of food supplies in light of the scarcity of aid.

Relief officials and health experts warned of "famine in the Gaza Strip during this May, unless Israel lifts restrictions on aid, the aggression stops, and vital services are restored."

The World Health Organization warned yesterday that many residents of the Strip are exposed to a "catastrophic level of hunger and famine-like conditions."

The Israeli occupation forces have continued their aggression against the Gaza Strip, by land, sea and air, since October 7, 2023, resulting in the death of more than 37,232 citizens and the injury of 85,037 others, an infinite toll, as thousands of victims are still under the rubble.