T he announcement was an admission of failure. On July 26th the Israel Defence Forces ( IDF) said that it would parachute food into Gaza and implement daily “humanitarian pauses” in parts of the still depopulated areas of the devastated strip, allowing international aid organisations to bring in convoys.

The “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in Gaza, according to a warning issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

For decades, Israel has calculated precisely how much food Gaza’s population needs to survive without starving.

International outcry over images of emaciated children and increasing reports of hunger-related deaths have pressured Israel to let more aid into the Gaza Strip

Atef Abu Khater, 17, died on Saturday, a source at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City told Al Jazeera. His weight had dropped from 70kg (154lbs) to just 25kg (55lbs) when he died, his family said – roughly what a nine-year-old child should weigh.

The UN says at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed near aid sites since late May - Israel says its forces do not intentionally shoot civilians.

Hospitals in Gaza reported the killing of more than a dozen people, eight of them food-seekers, by Israeli fire on Saturday as Palestinians endured severe risks in their search for food amid airdrops and restrictions on overland aid delivery.