Gaza: UN-backed experts have issued a dire warning that a worst-case scenario famine is now unfolding in Gaza, one that cannot be reversed unless humanitarian groups are granted immediate and unimpeded access.
According to Nam News Network, the announcement coincides with reports from health authorities in the Hamas-run territory, stating that over 60,000 people have lost their lives in Israel’s ongoing offensive, which was triggered by the militant group’s 2023 attack. The Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) emphasized that recent air-drops over Gaza announced by various countries will not suffice to prevent the looming humanitarian disaster.
In a separate statement, UN humanitarian agencies declared that Gaza is on the verge of a full-scale famine and urged donors to provide large-scale food aid without delay or obstruction. The crisis has been exacerbated by Israel’s total blockade on Gaza, imposed on March 2 following the breakdown of ceasefire talks. Although a trickle of aid resumed in late May, warnings of widespread starvation persist.
The IPC’s latest data indicate that famine thresholds have been reached in most of Gaza, with a disturbing rise in hunger-related deaths among young children. Between April and mid-July, over 20,000 children have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition, with more than 3,000 classified as severely malnourished. Tragically, at least 16 children under the age of five have died from hunger since July 17.
The evidence of widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease is mounting, driving an increase in hunger-related fatalities. Although Israel recently declared a tactical pause in military operations in parts of Gaza, allowing over 120 truckloads of food to enter, the IPC cautioned that air drops alone are inadequate. Delivering food by road is deemed more effective, safer, and faster, with the most vulnerable individuals, including children suffering from acute malnutrition, requiring consistent life-saving treatment to recover.
Following the IPC’s alert, UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) issued a joint statement warning that time is running out in Gaza. FAO Director General Qu Dongyu emphasized that people are starving not due to a lack of food, but because access is obstructed, highlighting that the right to food is a fundamental human right.
In Geneva, WFP’s emergency director Ross Smith compared the humanitarian disaster to last century’s famines in Ethiopia and Nigeria’s Biafra region, stating, “This is unlike anything we have seen in this century.” The IPC is actively working on a new analysis to urgently publish updated figures on the crisis in Gaza.