Despite an uptick in food supplies reaching Gaza this month, critical medical equipment remains barred from entry while deaths from malnutrition continue to mount to 147 casualties as of August 5, said Rick Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Tuesday at a UN press briefing in Geneva.

On the same day, the mothers of four of the estimated 20 living Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, met with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva, appealing that more be done to secure their sons’ release – after a recently released Hamas video depicted one of starving captives, Evyatar David, digging his own grave in a tunnel. 

Speaking at the second UN press briefing, hosted by Israel’s Mission to the UN in Geneva, the hostage mothers also expressed fears that the new large-scale Israeli invasion into Gaza city and other areas still controlled by Hamas could lead to their children’s deaths, diverging from the official government line etched recently by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

“I ask the people in the free world to do everything they can to pressure both sides, Hamas and our government, to sign a deal to release them,” declared Viki Cohen, mother of another 21-year-old hostage Nimrod Cohen, 21, who has been in Hamas captivity since 7 October 2023.  

“When I heard that our government is intent on expanding the war in Gaza, I was, as a mother, afraid because we know that Hamas will command its terrorists to kill the hostages whenever the IDF is getting close to them. So I’m afraid for their lives,” Cohen said.

 “Every day for them, it’s a risk, and also for the soldiers who are there. So the only solution, from my point of view, is to finish this nightmare for both sides. We want this war to end.” 

Malnutrition deaths confirmed by WHO

The 147 Gaza malnutrition deaths, confirmed by the WHO, include 98 adults and 49 children, 39 of which were under 5 years old, Peeperkorn said, speaking by video from Jerusalem.  The WHO confirmed count, which the agency said is confirmed directly from Gaza hospital records, is somewhat lower than the count reported by the Hamas controlled- Gaza Health Ministry, which stood at 212 deaths, as of 9 August. 

Israel has accused Hamas of exaggerating those numbers, saying that most such cases involved children or adults with pre-existing conditions. However, nutrition experts explain that in any hunger crisis or famine, most of those who die typically succumb to pre-existing conditions or infections that a well-fed person can fend off, rather than undernourishment, per se.     

Right now, some 2,500 Gaza children were suffering severe acute malnutrition, requiring specialised treatment, Peeperkorn said.  Meanwhile, cases of meningitis and the infection-linked autoimmune disorder Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), which were identified in July, continue to mount with a total of 452 meningitis cases and 76 suspected GBS cases, identified by WHO and its partners.  The outbreaks have been linked to the collapse of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure; overcrowding in shelters, malnutrition and compromised immunity.

Complex Israeli entry requirements continue to delay medical supply deliveries 

Two first line treatments, intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) and plasma exchange (PLEX), are currently out of stock, Peeperkorn said, noting that their delivery “needs to be urgently expedited.”

Complex Israeli entry requirements for medical supplies as well as the “arbitrary” denial of entry for international medical teams is leading to more deaths from preventable causes, Peeperkorn stressed. 

Since 18 March 2025, after the collapse of an eight-week ceasefire, Israeli denial rates for medical supply entries had risen by nearly 50 per cent, with 102 “critical international health professionals”, including surgeons and other specialised medical staff, barred from entry, he said.

Since June, WHO has been allowed to bring in 80 trucks with medical supplies as the blockade eased somewhat. However, entry processes remained “difficult and ever changing,” he added with the entry of many items, including assistive devices, intensive care unit beds, freezers, cold chain medicines, and anaesthesia machines, denied. 

Recently, some 282 pallets of medical supplies entered Israel via Ben Gurion Airport, but the clearance process so far has been too slow. Multiple crossings needed to be opened to allow the delivery of humanitarian supplies, Peeperkorn concluded.

In preparation for the recently announced Israeli plan to expand military operations in northern and central Gaza, taking over Gaza City, WHO has sought to stock up hospitals and build reserves but has so far been unable to do so, Peeperkorn added. 

Peeperkorn also expressed concerns that WHO’s second main warehouse, in Gaza City, is only 500 meters from a new Israeli army evacuation zone, and could be at risk in fighting now, following the destruction of WHO’s warehouse in Deir al Balah in late July.  

Hostage mothers express fears of broader Israeli incursion into Gaza 

At the Israeli press briefing, the hostage mothers said that they had a “frank” conversation with  ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric, who listened to their concerns over their sons’ wellbeing, and their appeals to the ICRC to intensify its pressure on Hamas to allow access to the hostages. 

In a statement after the meeting to Health Policy Watch, an ICRC spokesman said: “The suffering of the families of hostages is intolerable. It cannot continue. All remaining hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. A ceasefire agreement is needed now to save lives and bring an end to this nightmare.”

But the mothers also expressed disbelief over reports that Gazans were dying from malnutrition, following Israel’s two month aid blockade on the enclave from early March to mid-May –  -blaming Hamas for hoarding food from their own population, as well as depriving the hostages. 

That, despite the fact that reports by COGAT, the aid coordination arm of the military, shows that aid covering only about 30% of Gaza caloric needs finally entered the enclave in late May, followed by 60% in June and July each. 

The mothers also said maintained that they wanted Palestinians as well as Israelis to thrive, side by side – but that can’t happen if Hamas re-establishes its control over the 365 square meter enclave.   

“I’m not a politician. I want Gazans to live well, and for us to live well. I want peace and love, in this place, where I want my grandchildren to grow up,” said Meirav Gilboa Dallal, mother of Guy, who was kidnapped together with Evyatar David from the Nova Music festival on 7 October 2023. “But both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are terrorist organizations, and we can’t let them run Gaza. We need something better – maybe something that other countries, perhaps, can bring to Gaza, to rehabilitate it.” 

No clear end game for Gaza in sight 

Speaking at the briefing, Israel’s Ambassador in Geneva, Daniel Meron, denied that Israel wanted to expel Palestinians from Gaza or resettle the enclave with Israeli Jews once the war is over – despite repeated statements by hard right ministers in Israel’s government expressing exactly that ambition. 

But Meron struggled to offer a post-war vision of how Gaza could be rebuilt on terms acceptable to Palestinians and the international community – even if the hostages were released and Hamas was disarmed – ruling out a role for the internationally-recognized Palestinian Authority. 

“Gaza needs to be demilitarized,” said Meron, “Israel needs to continue to have an overriding security control and a non-Israeli peaceful civil administration should exist inside of Gaza. 

“There is no long term plan for Israel to stay a long time in Gaza,” he maintained. “If there was a magic solution, we would have had that a long time ago, but the situation is very complex. …We can think of different ideas of who’s going to govern Gaza…. There could be international forces with some Arab government countries and some others in Western countries getting together to see what could be the right civil administration. 

“But it’s not going to be Hamas. And he said it’s not going to be the Palestinian Authority.”

Image Credits: UNRWA, COGAT , E. Fletcher/Health Policy Watch , OCHA.