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The World Health Organisation said Thursday that 99 people were now known to have died from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip so far this year, with the figure likely an underestimate.

International outrage over the humanitarian situation in Gaza has ratcheted up pressure on Israel, with UN agencies warning of famine in the devastated Palestinian territory.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for scaled-up, sustained and unimpeded aid to be allowed to flow into Gaza, via all possible routes.

Gazans ‘have limited access to basic services, have faced repeated displacement and are now suffering from a blockade of food supplies’, Tedros told the UN correspondents’ association ACANU.

‘Malnutrition is widespread and hunger-related deaths are rising,’ he said.

‘In July, nearly 12,000 children under five years were identified as suffering from acute malnutrition — the highest monthly figure ever recorded.

‘So far this year, 99 people have died from malnutrition, including 29 children under five. These reported numbers are likely underestimates,’ he said.

The Israeli government is under mounting international and domestic pressure to end the war.

Meanwhile, Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir vowed on Thursday to continue expressing the military’s position ‘without fear’ ahead of an expected security cabinet meeting where war plans for Gaza will likely be discussed.

In the run-up to the meeting, rumours have been rife in the Israeli press about disagreements between the cabinet and Zamir over the way forward in the devastated Palestinian territory.

‘We will continue to express our position without fear, in a pragmatic, independent, and professional manner,’ Zamir said according to a military statement.

Earlier on Wednesday following reports that Zamir was against the idea, defence minister Israel Katz weighed in on the matter, saying on social media that Israel’s military would have to execute any government decision on Gaza.

‘We are not dealing with theory — we are dealing with matters of life and death, with the defence of the state, and we do so while looking directly into the eyes of our soldiers and citizens,’ Zamir said in his statement.

‘We will continue to act with responsibility, integrity, and determination — with only the good of the state and its security before us.’

Katz had said in his post on X that while ‘it is the right and duty of the chief of staff to express his position in the appropriate forums’, the military must respect policies made by the government.