The descent into ‘a massive famine’ in Gaza has begun, relief agencies warn

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Amid reports of increased Israeli military operations across Gaza City on Friday, UN aid agencies repeated urgent warnings of ongoing famine and a likely rise in preventable disease, linked to the dire living conditions in the war-shattered enclave.

“We are on a descent into a massive famine,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, “and we need massive amounts of food getting into the Strip and safely distribute it across the Gaza Strip”.

Referring to the latest catastrophic assessment of food insecurity in Gaza from the UN-backed IPC group of experts, Mr. Laerke noted that 500,000 people are in the worst possible situation today, with another 160,000 expected to be added to that number in the coming weeks.

Everyone lacks food

“They all need food,” he told journalists in Geneva.“The entire Gaza Strip needs food. There would not have been declared famine had there been sufficient amounts of food.”

In a related development, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted the growing risk of communicable diseases in Gaza, with 94 suspected cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome now reported.

The disease can cause paralysis and is treatable in hospital with intravenous immunoglobulin or plasma exchange, according to WHO. “But these two [treatments] are at zero stock, as are anti-inflammatories,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, referencing ongoing Israeli aid restrictions impacting humanitarian relief supplies entering Gaza. “These deliveries must be urgently expedited as much as surveillance and testing capabilities.”

Between 20 and 26 August, out of 89 attempts to coordinate relief missions with Israeli authorities across Gaza, 53 were facilitated, 23 were initially approved but then impeded on the ground, seven were denied and six had to be withdrawn by the organizers, OCHA said in an update.

UN warns of worsening toll in Gaza City

The UN later voiced deep concern that the intensifying Israeli offensive on Gaza City could have “an even more horrific impact” on civilians across the Strip. 

Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Israel’s decision to halt daily tactical pauses in Gaza City – now declared a “dangerous combat zone” – threatens both people’s lives and the ability of aid workers to operate.

UN teams reported that while the pauses had suggested some space for humanitarian action, “bombing was still observed in areas and at times where such pauses had been declared.” The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stressed that “life-saving aid operations must be enabled, not rolled back”.

Mr. Dujarric warned that forcing people further south risked “a recipe for disaster” and could amount to forcible transfer. He said the UN expects its work to be facilitated, reminding parties that civilians and humanitarian facilities “must be protected at all times”.

‘Every hour today counts’: UNRWA chief

The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, renewed his urgent call for a ceasefire in Gaza, warning that civilians face death not only from bombardment but also from mass starvation and lack of aid.

“Every hour today counts, the more we wait, the more people will die,” the UNRWA Commissioner-General said in interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson.