On Sunday, the World Health Organization warned that malnutrition was “on a dangerous trajectory in the Gaza Strip, marked by a spike in deaths in July”.
Of the 74 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza in 2025, 63 had occurred this month, including 24 children under five and one child over five, the UN agency said.
“Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting,” it added.
The WHO said the crisis was “entirely preventable” and condemned what it called the “deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health, and humanitarian aid”.
Hamas has denied stealing aid, and on Sunday the New York Times cited senior Israeli military officials as saying that the military had never found proof that the armed group had systematically stolen aid from the UN. Reuters news agency also reported last week that US government analysis found no evidence of systematic theft by Hamas of US-funded aid.
Netanyahu on Sunday savaged claims that Israel was deliberately starving civilians in Gaza, which would amount to a war crime.
“What a bold-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.” he said.
“We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza. Otherwise, there would be no Gazans. And what has interdicted the supply of humanitarian aid is one force, Hamas. Again, the reversal of truth,” he added.
Netanyahu said the Israeli military’s humanitarian pauses and corridors meant the UN had “no excuses left” not to collect and distribute all the aid from the crossings.
“Stop lying. Stop finding excuses. Do what you have to do.”
On Monday, local hospital sources said Israeli attacks across Gaza had killed more than 30 people, including aid seekers.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 59,821 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.