Over the past week, 14 elderly Palestinians were documented to have died across Gaza from complications related to hunger, malnutrition, and lack of medical care, said Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
“These deaths are directly linked to Israel’s complete closure of border crossings and its prevention of humanitarian aid and essential goods from entering the Strip since 2 March,” the human rights organisation said.
The victims died in various areas of Gaza, where residents face acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
In besieged Gaza enclave, famine is spreading, the health system has collapsed, and even the most basic medical care is unavailable—leaving vulnerable people, especially the elderly and those with chronic illnesses, to die in total isolation from the outside world, Euro-Med Monitor said.
The death of Musbah Abdul Raouf Abdul Ghafhour, 84, was documented in Khan Younis on Saturday. His family told Euro-Med Monitor that his condition deteriorated sharply after he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He could not be referred for treatment outside Gaza due to the total Israeli blockade. With no treatment available inside Gaza and his health further deteriorating due to malnutrition and lack of suitable food, he eventually succumbed.
The death of Talib Sabbah Suleiman Al-Arja, 80, was recorded on Tuesday, 7 May. His son, Jalal, told Euro-Med Monitor: “After the war on Gaza began and the suffocating siege was imposed, my father suffered repeated health setbacks due to a lack of food. We lived in miserable conditions in Rafah, and when we were displaced to Khan Younis, the suffering worsened. We lacked even the most basic necessities. My father complained about the intense heat inside the tent during the day and the biting insects at night. As an elderly man, he could not endure the hunger or thirst. He would ask for cold drinking water during the day, but we couldn’t provide it. He would long for foods like chicken, fish, eggs, and fruit—but none were available.”
He added, “He recently suffered a severe health setback. Hunger and malnutrition had left his body extremely weak and frail, so we transferred him to Nasser Hospital. After examination, doctors found he was suffering from acute anaemia and a severe deficiency in proteins and minerals. He remained in the hospital for less than 30 hours. His body did not respond to the medications, supplements, or IV fluids administered—and, in the end, he passed away.”
The Euro-Med Monitor team reported that dozens of elderly patients have been arriving at hospitals, the vast majority diagnosed with acute malnutrition and anaemia. With no access to treatment for their chronic illnesses, many have been forced to rely on canned food as their main source of nutrition—causing their health to deteriorate dramatically, in some cases leading to death.
An increasing number of elderly people, children, and patients are now dying as a direct result of the collapsing healthcare, severe malnutrition, and hunger, amidst the systematic breakdown of Gaza’s healthcare system caused by the Israeli blockade, said the rights organisation.
The lack of an effective mechanism within Gaza’s Ministry of Health to monitor such cases means they are often recorded as natural deaths, though in reality, they result directly from deliberate starvation policies and the destruction of the health system. These practices constitute a pattern of intentional killing, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law and international criminal law.
Such actions amount to some of the gravest crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which classifies wilful killing — including causing death through starvation or denial of medical care — as a war crime and a crime against humanity, particularly when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack targeting civilians, it pointed out.
They said: “These actions also meet the legal criteria for the crime of genocide, whether through acts of killing, inflicting serious bodily or mental harm, or imposing living conditions intended to bring about the physical destruction of a protected group, in whole or in part. This crime has been ongoing for over 19 months, perpetrated by Israel against the civilian population of Gaza.”
