Five people, including two children, have died in the past 24 hours from forced starvation and malnutrition in Palestine’s Gaza, bringing the death toll from hunger to 217, including 100 children.

Israel has enforced a mass starvation policy in Gaza since March 2, sealing all crossings and blocking aid convoys at the border. Only miniscule amounts of aid have been allowed in — far below what is needed to prevent famine.

Acute child malnutrition in Gaza has reached record levels, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned last week. In July alone, nearly 12,000 children under five were identified as acutely malnourished out of 136,000 screened. More than 2,500 were found to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the most life-threatening form.

At least 61,430 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023, according to the Health Ministry.