UN: Famine 'inevitable' in northern Gaza, children suffering from malnutrition

(Patria) - Famine is "inevitable" in northern Gaza, where no humanitarian group has been able to deliver aid since January 23, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday, AFP reported.

"If nothing changes, famine is inevitable in northern Gaza," said WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau to the UN Security Council, while his colleague from the UN Humanitarian Office (OCHA), Ramesh Rajasingham, warned of "almost inevitable" widespread famine.

As Israeli forces continue to block aid from entering northern Gaza, and aid does not regularly enter the rest of the territory, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths wrote to the Security Council last week, calling on member states to act to prohibit "the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare."

"Here we are, at the end of February, with at least 576,000 people in Gaza, a quarter of the population, on the brink of starvation, with one in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza suffering from acute malnutrition and thirst," said Rajasingem from OCHA.

About 97 percent of Gaza's groundwater is "reportedly unfit for human consumption" and agricultural production is beginning to collapse, warned Maurizio Martina, Deputy Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Aid is ready and waiting at the border, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' spokesperson on Tuesday.

"WFP colleagues also tell us that they have food stocks at the border with Gaza and that, under certain conditions, they could increase the provision of food for up to 2.2 million people" across the Gaza Strip, said Stephane Dujarric.

"Nearly 1,000 trucks carrying 15,000 metric tons of food are ready to move in Egypt," he added.

Israel blocked aid Israeli forces are "systematically" blocking access to Gaza, said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for OCHA, in Geneva earlier on Tuesday. Israeli authorities have rejected all planned aid convoys to the north in recent weeks. The last permitted entry was on January 23, according to the World Health Organization.

Israel's Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Jonathan Miller, says "it is not Israel that is holding these trucks," blaming the UN instead, saying they must "distribute aid more effectively."

"There are no restrictions on the amount of humanitarian aid that can be sent to the civilian population of Gaza," he said, adding that Israel has rejected only 16 percent of aid delivery requests since the beginning of 2024, due to the risk that shipments could end up in Hamas's hands.

Gaza's main UN aid agency, UNRWA, is meanwhile "at a breaking point," its head said last week. As donors freeze funding, Israel pressures to dismantle the body, and humanitarian needs grow.