At least 81 Palestinians were killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks and a forced famine since dawn while the Israeli army said that it had started the first stages of its assault planned to grasp the largest urban center of the enclave, Gaza City, where nearly a million people remain on perilous conditions.
On Wednesday, three other Palestinians died of hunger in the besieged enclave, bearing the total number of deaths linked to hunger at 269, including 112 children.
Israeli attacks included a strike on a tent that housed the Palestinians in southern Gaza who killed three people.
Mohammed Shaalan, a former Palestinian national basketball player, was the last victim of fire at GHF Aid distribution points, while Israeli forces shot him in southern Gaza. On Wednesday, at least 30 help seekers were killed.
Gaza was tracked down by famine because the punishing blockade of Israel and the in -laws in progress have stifled food, fuel and medical supplies.
The UN World Food Program (WFP) has warned that malnutrition increases through Gaza in the middle of the current aid blockade in Israel. “It’s not just hunger. It’s famine,” said WFP.
“Malnutrition is a silent killer,” said the agency, noting that it causes “life development damage” and weakens immune systems, “making deadly deadly diseases”.
It’s not just hunger. It’s famine.
Malnutrition in #Gaza Quickly climb – with more children and mothers showing serious signs.
Malnutrition is a silent killer:
🔴 weakens immune systems, which makes deadly diseases fatal
🔴 causes growth retardation and lifelong development damage … pic.twitter.com/nemqssjx7m– Global Food Program (@WFP) August 20, 2025
The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) says that almost one in three Palestinian children in Gaza City is now badly nourished.
The Israeli rights group Gisha has demystified a series of discussion points from the Israeli government who seek to minimize and escape the responsibility of the famine crisis which takes place in all Gaza.
Despite Israel’s assertion that the United Nations is to be blamed for a lack of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip, Gisha says that “Israel has used its control over the entrance to aid as a war from the first day” of its military offensive.
“Israel has created and continues to create conditions that make the transfer of aid to Gaza almost impossible,” he said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire and describes the conditions under which its employees work in Gaza as disastrous.
“We work in catastrophic conditions,” said Dr. Hind, a doctor from UNRWA in Gaza.
Another health worker said that staff had often traveled “under the burning sun” just to reach their messages before working to provide care “to our employees with an urgent need for help”.
The Civil Defense of Gaza has raised the alarm on the severity of the fuel crisis in the enclave, claiming that the lack of fuel compromises its ability to respond to emergency and rescue situations.
“Several times, our vehicles have stopped on the path of the missions, some due to fuel shortages and others due to a lack of spare parts for the interview,” said a civil defense statement. “We are faced with major humanitarian challenges in the midst of threats to an escalation in the War of Israeli extermination.”
Another wave of “mass displacement”
Strikes are involved as the Israeli army said it would call 60,000 reservists in the coming weeks when it advances with a plan to grasp Gaza City, which has been the subject of incessant attacks in recent weeks. A military spokesman said the first stages of his assault against the city had started.
Nearly a million Palestinians have been trapped in the region, where Israeli tanks got closer to the city center this week. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN chief Antonio Guterres, expressed his concern concerning army operations in Gaza City, who, according to him, “would create another mass trip of people who have been moved several times” since the start of the war.
Hani Mahmoud, Tel Aviv Tribune, reporting from Gaza City, said the Israeli forces had intensified attacks in the Zeitoun district of Gaza City, as well as Jabalia in the North.
“This includes explosions in progress from systematic demolitions of houses. This is a very effective strategy of the Israeli army, which trains with a main objective: to empty the Gaza band of its population by depriving people to have something so basic,” said Mahmoud.
“People leave their personal effects behind them, their food supplies that they have managed to get in recent weeks,” he added.
Parents of Israeli captives detained in Gaza have condemned approval by the Israeli Ministry of Defense of the Gaza City seizure plan and accused the government of having ignored a cease-fire proposal approved by Hamas, saying that it was “a stab at the heart of families and the public in Israel”.
Hamas says that the thrust of the Israeli army in the city of Gaza is a clear sign that Israel plans to continue “its brutal war against innocent civilians” and aims to destroy the Palestinian city and to move its residents.
“Netanyahu’s contempt for the mediators’ proposal and his inability to respond to it proves that he is the true obstructionist of any agreement, that he does not care about the life of (Israeli captives), and that he is not serious about their return,” said the Palestinian group.
The offensive of the city of Gaza, announced earlier this month, comes in an increased international conviction of Israel’s ban on food and medicine reaching Gaza and the fears of another forced exodus of Palestinians.
“What we see in Gaza is nothing less than apocalyptic reality for children, for their families and for this generation,” said Ahmed Alhendawi, regional director of Save the Children, in an interview. “The fate and struggle of this Gaza generation are beyond being described in words.”
Mediators, on the other hand, continue to continue efforts to obtain a cease-fire in the 22-month war.
Qatar and Egypt said they were waiting for Israel’s response to the proposal, that Hamas had accepted earlier this week.
The last executive provides for a 60 -day truce, an echeloned exchange of captives and Palestinian prisoners, and has expanded access to aid.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not publicly comment on the proposal, which is supported by the United States. Last week, he insisted that any agreement must ensure that “all hostages are released immediately and according to our conditions to end the war”. There have been other reports that the far -right government is on this line.
Marwan Bishara, political analyst of Tel Aviv Tribune, said that Arab states had to put pressure on the United States for Israel to accept a cease-fire.
“Obviously, the Israelis are two spirits: a spirit remembers reservists, emitting the plans, approving the plans to directly reappear the Gaza band (and) transferring its inhabitants from north to south in preparation for ethnically Gaza cleaning.”
“On the other hand, there is of course the domestic pressure … (and) the idea that Israel can secure the release of some living hostages and get involved in a sort of longer agreement (in the long term),” said Bishara.
“Without Arab pressure on Washington, I think the Israelis will likely go with the first scenario.”
The genocidal war of Israel killed more than 62,122 Palestinians, said the Gaza Ministry of Health.