A top Israeli embassy official in Canberra has denied starvation is occurring in the Gaza Strip and says reports of the deaths of malnourished children are a "false campaign" from Hamas.
"We don't recognise any famine or any starvation in the Gaza Strip," Israel's deputy chief of mission in its Canberra embassy Amir Meron told a group of reporters, including SBS News, on Monday.
"Israel has never acted in a policy of starvation. There is no such policy. There is no starvation in the Gaza Strip and there is no willingness of Israel that such a thing will happen in the Gaza Strip."
Israel has come under increasing international pressure over its limitations of aid after images of emaciated children in Gaza made headlines around the world in the past week.
The image of one boy's skeletal figure in the arms of his mother was cited by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in his most strident criticism on Sunday, when he said Israel is "quite clearly" breaching international law by limiting aid deliveries into the Palestinian territory.
Anthony Albanese said scenes of starvation in Gaza "break your heart" — singling out a picture of an emaciated 18-month-old child in Gaza (pictured), who faces severe malnutrition as well as a pre-existing health condition, which was widely published around the world last week. Source: Getty / Anadolu /
The World Health Organization said on Monday it has recorded 74 malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, with 63 occurring in July alone. They included 24 children under five, a child over five, and 38 adults. "Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting," it said in a statement.
"The crisis remains entirely preventable. Deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health, and humanitarian aid has cost many lives."
On Monday, Albanese said Gaza was in the grips of a humanitarian "catastrophe".
"Israel's denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children seeking access to water and food, cannot be defended nor can it be ignored," he told parliament.
"We have called upon Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law."
Speaking to reporters, Meron said Israel was upholding international humanitarian law, and described reports of malnourished children dying in Gaza in recent weeks as a "false campaign" being led by militant group Hamas.
"(Hamas is) taking advantage of sick children in order to show a false claim and false presentation of hunger and starvation in the Gaza Strip," he said.
"This is not the situation that is happening today and we are monitoring very carefully this situation in the Gaza strip."
Meron, a former strategic analyst in the Israeli prime minister's office and representative on Israel's National Security Council, said Hamas was "deceiving" the media and international organisations and "taking control over this aid and using it for its own economic and military goals".
An internal US government analysis, conducted by a bureau within the US Agency for International Development in late June, found no evidence of systematic theft of US-funded humanitarian supplies by Hamas, according to the Reuters news agency.
Separately, the European Commission has said it had found no reports of Hamas stealing humanitarian aid in Gaza, while the New York Times reported on 26 July, citing at least two Israeli military officials, that the Israeli military never found proof Hamas had systematically stolen aid from the United Nations.
Two year old Yazan Abu Foul — with his mother Naima — suffers from severe malnutrition due to the acute shortage of food amid a blockade on aid since March. Source: EPA / Haitham Emad/EPA
"We have to remember that while we're seeing these photos, and while we're seeing this campaign against Israel."
Israel resumed airdrop aid to Gaza on Sunday as the Israeli military announced several steps to address the humanitarian crisis after mounting international pressure.
UPDATE: The original version of this story included images supplied by Getty Images/Anadolu of Mohammed Zakariya Eyup Al-Matouq amid reports of spreading starvation in Gaza. His mother and treating doctor have confirmed via Anadolu that he had a pre-existing health condition, and is experiencing both severe malnutrition and a muscle-related illness. Read the full story here.
