No food, No future: Gaza’s descent into famine and death

Amid international warnings about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the deceptive scheme launched by the U.S. and the Zionist regime under the pretext of distributing aid in southern Gaza—where hungry displaced people are massacred daily at a center linked to the so-called "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation"—the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a statement noting that Israel continues to block humanitarian aid from entering the besieged Gaza Strip, allowing only a small amount of aid to pass through.

Jens Clark, OCHA spokesperson, stated in a press conference in Geneva: "Gaza is the hungriest place in the world today. Even the very limited aid that has entered Gaza has not included ready-to-eat food; it requires cooking, which is impossible due to the lack of facilities."

He added: "Since partially lifting the Gaza blockade, Israel has permitted 900 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter, but only 600 have reached areas where they could unload, and of those, only a few have been transferred into Gaza itself."

The UN official noted: "After imposing a severe blockade on Gaza since early March, Israel now allows only minimal humanitarian aid into the Strip. The limited number of trucks permitted entry is a drop in the ocean. The aid distribution mission in Gaza faces significant operational restrictions, making it one of the most disrupted relief operations, not only in the world today but in modern history."

The OCHA spokesperson stressed: "Due to the scale of the hunger and famine crisis in Gaza, as soon as aid arrives, displaced people rush to warehouses to secure food to survive and feed their children. No one can blame people for rushing to these supplies, as the aid is meant for Gaza’s residents, but it is not distributed as intended or properly."

He asserted that the aid distribution system in Gaza’s limited centers and the mechanism devised by the U.S. and Israel violate UN humanitarian principles and do not help resolve the crisis.

Alarming statistics on severe food insecurity in Gaza

Thomas Delalonga, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, stated: "Half of our medical facilities in Gaza have shut down due to fuel or medical supply shortages. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report published in May, between May and September 2025, 470,000 people in Gaza will face the most severe phase of hunger, a 250% increase compared to previous estimates."

The Red Cross official added: "The report indicates that Gaza’s entire population suffers from high levels of acute food insecurity. It is projected that 71,000 children and over 17,000 breastfeeding mothers urgently need treatment for malnutrition. At the start of 2025, at least 60,000 children in Gaza required medical care due to severe malnutrition."

Seventeen UN-affiliated agencies and NGOs also reported that the vast majority of children in Gaza face severe food deprivation. Coupled with a lack of access to healthcare and severe shortages of clean water, Gaza’s population is grappling with widespread malnutrition.

Mohammad Al-Shakri, a therapeutic nutrition specialist at Al-Wafa Medical and Surgical Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza, said: "The hunger crisis has escalated catastrophically due to the closure of crossings and the prevention of aid entry. The shortage of basic food supplies is the primary cause of malnutrition, leading to deaths in some cases, particularly among those with chronic illnesses, the elderly, infants, and children."

In an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, he explained: "Essential food components like wheat, flour, vegetables, and fruits provide energy, strengthen muscles, and support bodily functions. The collapse of the food pyramid in Gaza leads to extreme weight loss and death. Some people here have literally become skeletons due to starvation and severe malnutrition."

The Gaza medical official noted: "At Al-Wafa elderly care center in Gaza City, 17 elderly people have died since the war began, 12 of them due to malnutrition."

Dr. Ismail Al-Thawabta, Director-General of the Government Information Office in Gaza, stated: "The occupiers in Gaza are using engineered starvation as a policy against the population, resulting in the deaths of over 326 citizens due to malnutrition, part of the ongoing Zionist genocide against over 2.4 million civilians in the Strip."

He added: "The occupiers deliberately use food and medicine as weapons of war, a clear violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions. What is happening in Gaza is a deliberate, ongoing catastrophe aimed at the gradual extermination of a nation. Death from starvation here is not only due to direct malnutrition but also the collapse of the healthcare system and medicine shortages. Most victims are patients, children, and pregnant women. We hold the Zionist occupying regime, the U.S., and several complicit European countries fully responsible for these deadly policies."

The Gaza official emphasized: "The continued closure of crossings for the third consecutive month has deprived Gaza of over 50,000 aid trucks, worsening living and sanitary conditions. This has led to the deaths of dozens of patients, including at least 26 kidney patients, and hundreds of miscarriages."