Photography

Photos: Starvation and Chaos in Gaza

Israel’s blockade of most food and aid, along with distribution difficulties inside the Gaza Strip, have driven many of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians to the brink of starvation.

By Alan Taylor
A man holds a severely undernourished child in his arms.
Mohammed Y. M. Al-yaqoubi / Anadolu / Getty
Five-year-old Lana Salih Juha, who fled with her family from Gaza's Shuja'iyya neighborhood to the city center, suffers from severe malnutrition, seen on July 28, 2025. Her family is calling for urgent help to ensure she receives proper treatment and nutrition.

United Nations agencies are now warning that the hunger crisis in Gaza is evolving into a famine, with growing evidence of starvation and malnutrition. The estimated 2 million Palestinians in Gaza have limited access to aid, facing the threat of being shot by Israeli soldiers as they make their way to crowded food-distribution points. Israel claims to have allowed 5,000 aid trucks into Gaza over the past two months, but aid groups are saying that’s far less than what is needed. According to NPR, Gaza health authorities are now reporting that more than 130 people in Gaza have died from “famine and malnutrition” since the war began.

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Majdi Fathi / NurPhoto / Getty
Palestinians gather at a food-distribution point in Gaza City on July 20, 2025.
A long line of flatbed trucks on a road, each carrying bags of food aid
Mohammed Arafat / AP
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid line up to enter the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on July 27, 2025.
Dozens of people climb onto the cab and bed of a flatbed delivery truck in a chaotic scene.
Saeed M. M. T. Jaras / Anadolu / Getty
Palestinians climb aboard a food-aid truck after walking for miles to receive flour distributed from several trucks that entered the area of Zikim, a kibbutz in southern Israel, on July 27, 2025.
Hundreds of people can be seen in a long line, many of them carrying large bags of flour.
Ramez Habboub / GocherImagery / Future Publishing / Getty
Palestinians carry humanitarian aid distributed at the Zikim crossing, near the Al-Sudaniya area in northern Gaza, as they return to their families after the beginning of airdrop operations.
A boy with flour smeared on his face struggles to carry a large bag of flour.
Ramez Habboub / ABACA / Reuters
A boy carries a bag of flour that was distributed at the Zikim crossing on July 26, 2025.
Long lines of mostly men carry heavy sacks of food.
Mahmoud Issa / Anadolu / Getty
Palestinians carry large sacks of flour away from a distribution point in the Zikim area on July 27, 2025.
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Hassan Jedi / Anadolu / Getty
Residents of the Nuseirat refugee camp line up in front of water trucks every day to collect clean water to carry back to their tents in Gaza City, seen on July 20, 2025.
Seven or eight people pour sacks of lentils into large cooking pots.
Abdalhkem Abu Riash / Anadolu / Getty
Sacks of lentils are poured into cooking pots at a food-distribution station run by a charity organization in the Gaza Strip, seen on July 18, 2025.
A close view of a person making an anguished face among a crowd holding out pots at a food distribution center
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen, in Gaza City, on July 26, 2025.
A close view of a child's face, smashed among other people in a crowd
Khames Alrefi / Anadolu / Getty
A child is seen among a crowd waiting to get hot meals distributed by an aid organization in Gaza City on July 26, 2025.
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Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP / Getty
A displaced Palestinian girl takes a sip of lentil soup that she received at a food-distribution point in Gaza City on July 25, 2025.
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Jehad Alshrafi / AP
Humanitarian aid is air-dropped over Gaza City to Palestinians on July 27, 2025.
Crates of food and aid drop from the sky by parachute, seen over ruined structures in Gaza.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
Aid packages drop to the ground in the northern Gaza Strip on July 27, 2025.
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Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
A Palestinian youth carries a sack of aid that landed in the Mediterranean Sea, off the shore of Zawaida, after being air-dropped over central Gaza on July 29, 2025.
Many people carry sacks of flour past the ruins of destroyed building buildings.
Jehad Alshrafi / AP
Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip on July 22, 2025.
A close view of a young boy who is very undernourished, sitting on the floor near to other children.
Jehad Alshrafi / AP
Yazan Abu Ful, a malnourished 2-year-old child, sits at his family home in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on July 23, 2025.

About the Author

Alan Taylor is a senior editor at The Atlantic.
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