Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
United Nations agencies have issued a stark warning that Gaza is teetering on the edge of a full-blown famine, as the humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian territory continues to deteriorate at an alarming pace.
In a joint alert issued Wednesday, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that time is running out for launching a comprehensive humanitarian response in Gaza. The agencies say the collapse of food systems, widespread hunger, and growing child malnutrition are signs of a rapidly escalating crisis that could soon meet the technical threshold of famine.
According to the WFP, over one in three Gazans approximately 39% of the population are spending entire days without any food. The agency estimates that more than half a million people, or nearly one-quarter of Gaza’s population, are now living in conditions that closely resemble famine.
“The levels of malnutrition among children under five in Gaza City have quadrupled in just two months, reaching 16.5%,” the WFP said in its statement. These rates far exceed emergency thresholds and reflect a devastating breakdown in basic health and nutrition services.
The situation is already turning deadly. Over the past 24 hours alone, seven people including one child have died from hunger and malnutrition-related causes, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The total number of confirmed starvation-related deaths in Gaza has now reached at least 154, including 89 children.
Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the WFP, condemned the slow pace of response. “Waiting for a formal famine declaration before delivering life-saving food aid is unacceptable,” she said. “People are already dying of hunger and malnutrition. Every delay costs more lives.”
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu echoed the warning, saying Gaza is “now on the brink of full-scale famine.” He added: “People are starving not because food does not exist, but because they cannot access it. Local food systems have collapsed, families have lost their livelihoods, and humanitarian access remains dangerously limited.”
Gaza has been under near-total blockade for months, with border crossings either closed or operating under heavy restrictions. Aid convoys, when allowed to enter, often do so in insufficient numbers and under high-risk conditions. The destruction of infrastructure, displacement of over a million people, and continued hostilities have further crippled the territory’s ability to cope.
UN officials and humanitarian organizations are calling for immediate, unfettered access to Gaza for humanitarian aid, alongside a ceasefire that would allow for the safe delivery of food, medicine, and shelter. Without swift action, they warn, the death toll from starvation could rise exponentially in the coming weeks.
