Daijiworld Media Network – Gaza

Gaza, Aug 5: As Israel’s siege tightens around Gaza, Palestinian families are growing desperate in their search for loved ones who vanished while trying to secure food from aid distribution points, many of which have turned into deadly zones of violence and starvation.

In Deir el-Balah, Khaled Obaid has been searching for his son Ahmed for two months. The boy had left their tent in search of food for his displaced family, including his widowed sister, and never returned. “He went because he was hungry. We have nothing to eat,” Khaled said tearfully under the family’s blue tarpaulin shelter. Despite reporting his son's disappearance to various agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, he has received no word.

Ahmed’s story mirrors the growing number of tragic accounts emerging from Gaza, where Palestinians are being forced to risk their lives just to obtain food. Aid sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which once represented hope, have now been dubbed “death traps” and “human slaughterhouses” by the United Nations and human rights groups. Since late May, nearly 1,400 people have reportedly been shot dead near aid convoys and distribution points, largely by Israeli forces, according to the UN.

Maha Hussaini from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor confirmed that many of the missing were later found dead, often killed near aid sites. “Many Palestinians left home with empty hands, hoping to return with a bag of flour. But many never came back,” said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, highlighting the fragile boundary between survival and death.

As mass hunger sweeps Gaza, authorities have reported that more than 80 adults and 93 children have died from starvation and malnutrition in recent weeks. UNICEF on Monday said that 28 children – the equivalent of an entire classroom – are dying every day due to bombings and lack of access to food, water, and medicine. “More than anything, they need a ceasefire, NOW,” the agency posted on X.

Despite Israel easing some restrictions on aid entry since July 27, only 84 trucks per day are reaching Gaza – far short of the 600 required to meet basic needs, aid agencies warn.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under increasing international criticism, announced plans to convene a cabinet meeting to ensure “Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.” Reports suggest he may expand military operations, even as calls for a ceasefire grow louder globally.

On Monday alone, at least 74 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks, including 36 aid seekers. Israeli airstrikes targeted homes in Deir el-Balah, killing three people, while seven others were reported dead in Shujayea, east of Gaza City. Beit Lahiya also saw fatalities from bombings. In a tragic turn, a nurse at Al-Aqsa Hospital died after being struck by an airdropped aid box, sparking further outrage over the dangerous delivery method.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, condemned the airdrops as a "distraction" that fails to address the scale of suffering. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry appealed to the UN Security Council for urgent intervention, calling for an immediate ceasefire, a humanitarian visit to Gaza, and enforcement of resolutions from the recent New York conference advocating a two-state solution.

“Over two million Palestinians are living in a tight death circle of killing, starvation, thirst, and deprivation,” the ministry said, warning of a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian catastrophe.