By 
The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners within the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership has released a report that paints a harrowing picture of critical hunger and desperation in Gaza, where a continued aid blockade is pushing the population towards famine.
The report reveals that the entire 2.1 million residents of Gaza face prolonged food shortages, with nearly half a million already enduring “catastrophic” levels of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness, and death.
The WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, emphasized the urgency of the Gaza scenario.
“We do not need to wait for a declaration of famine in Gaza to know that people are already starving, sick and dying, while food and medicines are minutes away across the border.” He said, adding that without immediate access to food and essential supplies, the crisis will worsen, leading to more deaths and a descent into famine.
The IPC analysis indicates that three-quarters of Gaza’s population are currently experiencing emergency or catastrophic food deprivation, the two most severe levels on the IPC’s five-point scale of food insecurity and nutritional deprivation.
Disturbingly, the Gaza Ministry of Health reports that 57 children have already died due to malnutrition since the aid blockade commenced on March 2, 2025.
The WHO cautions that this figure is likely an underestimate and is expected to rise.
The IPC report projects that if the current situation continues, nearly 71,000 children under the age of five could suffer from acute malnutrition over the next eleven months.
The WHO strongly criticized the plan announced by Israeli authorities to deliver aid through proposed distribution sites, deeming it grossly inadequate to meet the overwhelming needs of over two million people.
The organization echoed the UN’s call for the upholding of humanitarian principles and for unimpeded access to deliver aid based on need, stressing that an established UN-led humanitarian coordination system must be allowed to function fully to ensure principled, timely, and equitable aid delivery.
The ongoing aid blockade is severely hindering the WHO’s ability to support malnutrition treatment centers and the broader health system in Gaza.
The WHO revealed the tragic reality that life-saving medical supplies are waiting just outside Gaza but cannot reach those in desperate need.
The organization called for the protection of healthcare, an immediate end to the aid blockade, the release of all hostages, and a ceasefire leading to lasting peace.
Comments