GAZA CITY — At least 67 children in Gaza have died of hunger since October 2023, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza, as Israel’s total blockade on the besieged enclave enters its 103rd day.

In a statement issued Saturday, the office warned that the death toll could rise sharply in the coming weeks, with over 650,000 children under the age of five now facing severe and potentially fatal malnutrition due to the continued denial of food, medicine, and fuel.

“Starvation is now killing what bombs have not,” the statement read, calling the ongoing blockade “one of the most extreme forms of collective punishment in modern history.”

The media office said dozens of additional child deaths were recorded in just the past three days alone, attributing them to Israel’s obstruction of critical humanitarian supplies such as flour, infant formula, and life-saving medical aid.

The statement accused Israel of “deliberately pursuing a policy of mass starvation,” and said approximately 1.25 million people in Gaza are now enduring catastrophic levels of hunger.

It added that 96% of the population, including more than one million children, suffers from acute food insecurity.

The Gaza Government Media Office held Israel fully responsible for what it called a “systematic and organized starvation campaign,” and extended legal and moral culpability to its international allies for their support or silence.

“We are sounding the alarm: this is a mass death sentence unfolding before the eyes of the world,” the statement said. “Immediate international intervention is not optional, it’s a matter of life or death.”

Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, has so far killed more than 57,800 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, according to local authorities.

The campaign, coupled with a strict blockade, has decimated Gaza’s infrastructure, disrupted food supply chains, and triggered widespread outbreaks of disease.

In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.

Separately, the International Court of Justice is hearing a case accusing Israel of genocide over its military campaign in the enclave. — Agencies