The children and the 50-year-old were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where a doctor confirmed that they died from suffocation due to crowding at the al-Banna bakery.

The news came as Israeli warplanes targeted displaced Palestinians in Deir Al-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza with intense strikes in the past 72 hours, killing dozens and wounding dozens more.

In the last two months, the flow of food allowed into Gaza by Israel has fallen to nearly its lowest level since the start of the Israeli blockade on the strip on 7 October 2023.

In recent months, Israel has allowed less than six percent of food and water humaitarian aid shipments to Gaza needed to keep 2.3 million Palestinians under-siege alive, according to relief groups.

Meanwhile, a complete blockade on all food and water to northern Gaza by the Israeli army since the start of its intensified ethnic cleansing operation against towns and refugee camps in early October has left tens of thousands of residents on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli genocidal war on Gaza has so far claimed the lives of at least 44,363 people and injured more than 105,070 others, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

UN and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of which rely on humanitarian aid to survive.

Some bakeries in Gaza were closed for several days last week due to a shortage of flour.

AP footage taken last week after they reopened showed large crowds of people cramming together, screaming and pushing, at one bakery in Deir al-Balah.

Palestinians across the Gaza Strip rely heavily on bakeries and charitable kitchens, with many able to secure only one meal daily for their families.

The Gaza Strip has descended into anarchy, with hunger soaring, looting rampant and rising numbers of rapes in shelters as public order falls apart, the United Nations said on Friday.

Palestinians are suffering "on a scale that has to be seen to be truly grasped," Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, said after concluding his latest visit to the devastated Palestinian territory.

"This time I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a media briefing in Geneva, via video-link from Amman.

"The anarchy in Gaza we warned about months ago is here," he said.