According to the United Nations food aid agency, nearly one-third of the population in Gaza is “not eating for days.” This dire statistic underscores the escalating humanitarian crisis, described as reaching “new and astonishing levels of desperation.” The Rome-based World Food Programme (WFP) has expressed grave concerns, highlighting a “critical risk of famine” in this conflict-affected region.
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“Almost one in three people is not consuming food for extended periods,” a WFP statement reported. It also indicated that malnutrition is sharply increasing, with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment. Furthermore, an alarming 470,000 individuals are projected to face “catastrophic hunger,” marking the most severe category under the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase classification, between May and September this year.
“People are dying due to a lack of humanitarian assistance,” a statement emphasized, as aid organizations reported rising numbers of malnourished children in Gaza—an area that has been under an aid blockade since March due to ongoing conflict with Hamas.
In a recent development, Israeli officials announced that more foreign aid will be allowed to parachute into Gaza, according to Israeli army radio. However, the response from military spokespersons regarding this matter was not immediately available.
The health ministry in Gaza has remarked that over 100 individuals have succumbed to starvation since supplies were cut off in March. Although Israel lifted the blockade in May, it maintains restrictions deemed necessary to prevent aid from being misappropriated by militant groups.
In just the first two weeks of July, UNICEF reported treating 5,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza, a situation World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus labeled as man-made mass starvation fueled by the ongoing blockade.
Aid organizations are sounding alarms over an increasing number of malnourished children in Gaza, coinciding with an “emergency call” being planned by a trio of European nations in response to the deepening crisis.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) indicated that last week, a quarter of the children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers screened at their clinics were malnourished. This alarming data comes just a day after the United Nations revealed that one in five children in Gaza City is affected by malnutrition.
Amid growing fears of mass starvation, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany are coordinating an emergency call to advocate for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas while also discussing future steps toward Palestinian statehood. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer shared, “I will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow to urgently discuss measures that can help end the violence and provide essential food aid while working toward a lasting peace.”
As hopes for a new ceasefire dimmed, indirect negotiations between Israel and the United States with Hamas in Qatar were abandoned. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of failing to act “in good faith.”
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) stated that one in five children in Gaza City suffers from malnutrition, while over 100 aid and human rights organizations recently warned that “mass starvation” is expanding in the region. Israel has refuted claims of responsibility for the worsening crisis, which the World Health Organization has deemed “man-made.”
Israel instituted an aid blockade in March, which was partially lifted two months later. Since then, aid has been controlled by the Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, replacing the UN-led distribution system.
Aid organizations have resisted engaging with the GHF, alleging it serves Israeli military objectives. The new system requires Gazans to travel significant distances and endure lengthy waits at only four distribution sites, often resulting in fatal incidents; the UN has reported over 750 fatalities among aid-seekers near GHF centers since late May.
Recent observations from AFP included distressing scenes of injured patients who sustained wounds while seeking humanitarian assistance being treated in Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis. Israel, however, has declined to revert to the UN-led system, asserting that it allowed Hamas to exploit aid for its own ends.
The humanitarian crisis is reaching catastrophic levels as MSF criticized the “weaponization of food,” revealing that their screenings found that 25% of children aged six months to five years, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, were malnourished. Remarkably, cases of malnutrition have quadrupled since May 18 at MSF’s clinic in Gaza City, with the facility admitting 25 new malnourished patients daily.
According to statistics from the Hamas-run health ministry, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of 59,587 Palestinians, primarily civilians. The conflict was ignited by a Hamas attack in October 2023, which claimed 1,219 lives, most of them civilians. Currently, of the 251 hostages taken during this attack, 49 remain unaccounted for in Gaza, including 27 whom the Israeli military has indicated are deceased.
In the words of humanitarian organizations, “the current situation is unsustainable and demands immediate global attention and intervention.”
Edited By Ali Musa
Axadle Times International – Monitoring.
