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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Editorial

The Guardian view on starvation in Gaza: it will take more than words to halt Israel’s genocide

A Palestinian girl waits to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City, 22 July 2025.
A girl waits to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City, 22 July 2025. ‘Even if the trickle of aid keeps most Palestinians alive – just – the deprivation can still destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a group.’ Photograph: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters

July has been one of the deadliest months of the war in Gaza, with Israel killing one person every 12 minutes. The UN says more than 1,000 Palestinians have died trying to get food, mostly when they attempted to collect aid from hubs.

Behind these visible deaths lies the horror of systematic starvation: “minutely engineered, closely monitored, precisely designed”, in the words of Prof Alex de Waal, an expert on humanitarian crises. More than 100 aid groups warned that it is spreading fast. At least 10 people died of hunger and malnutrition on Tuesday alone, said Gaza’s health ministry. Parents watch their children wither. Adults collapse on the street.

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