Gaza: 4-Year-Old Boy Dies of Hunger as Israeli-Made Starvation Crisis Deepens
Gaza (Quds News Network)- A 4-year-old boy, Mustafa Mohammed Yassin, died of severe malnutrition and dehydration at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Saturday. His death marks the latest child fatality linked to Israel’s blockade and starvation policy, according to health officials.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense, confirmed the boy died of hunger caused by Israel’s ongoing ban on food and aid entry. “This child had the right to live, to grow, to laugh. But Israel took that away,” Basal said. “If no food or water enters Gaza, more children will die like Mustafa.”
Basal added that Mustafa is not the first child to die of hunger in Gaza, and if the siege continues, “he will not be the last.”
The Health Ministry also confirmed the cause of death as malnutrition. The ministry warned that thousands of children and elderly people are now at risk due to famine and medical collapse under Israel’s siege.
The tragedy comes as the World Food Programme (WFP) reports that more than 70,000 children in Gaza face severe malnutrition. The UN agency said it is racing to deliver food, but aid trucks are “a drop in the ocean.” The WFP called for safe, unrestricted access to prevent a full-scale famine and save lives.
Two days earlier, Palestinian Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan revealed that 29 children and elderly people had died of hunger-related causes in just 48 hours. He said the death toll could soar if aid continues to be blocked.
Abu Ramadan noted that only 7 or 8 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, and over 90% of medical supplies are depleted. He confirmed that only flour for bakeries had arrived in the most recent aid convoys. No medical aid was included.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war, and called on the UN General Assembly to break the siege and end the mass suffering of 2.3 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
According to the Government Media Office, Gaza needs at least 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks every day to meet urgent humanitarian needs.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel—with full US support—has carried out a genocidal campaign in Gaza, killing or injuring over 175,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. More than 11,000 are still missing, and hundreds of thousands remain displaced with no food, clean water, or medical care.
As Gaza’s starvation crisis deepens, the death of Mustafa Yassin stands as a heartbreaking symbol of global failure to stop this man-made famine.
“Mustafa should have lived,” said Basal. “If the world has any humanity left, it must act now—before more children join him in death.”
