Nearly one in three people in the Gaza Strip are going without food for days at a time, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned, amid intensifying concerns over a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in the war-torn enclave.
In a statement, the WFP reported a surge in malnutrition, noting that over 90,000 women and children are in urgent need of life-saving nutritional treatment.
Warnings of mass starvation escalated further this week after nine more deaths from malnutrition were confirmed on Friday, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. The total number of such deaths since the outbreak of the war now stands at 122.
Despite controlling all entry points for aid into Gaza, Israel insists it has placed no restrictions on humanitarian supplies, and blames Hamas for the distribution issues and resulting malnutrition. However, international agencies and humanitarian groups continue to report severe shortages of food, medicine, and water within the territory.
On Friday, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer indicated Britain was preparing to participate in aid airdrops into Gaza after more than a third of MPs signed a letter urging the UK government to recognize a Palestinian state.
“News that Israel will allow countries to airdrop aid into Gaza has come far too late – but we will do everything we can to get aid in via this route,” Sir Keir wrote in The Mirror, while also stating that the UK is “urgently accelerating efforts” to evacuate critically ill children from Gaza for medical treatment in the UK.
Reports from regional media suggested that Jordan and the United Arab Emirates would carry out upcoming airdrops. However, a senior Jordanian official told the BBC that their military had yet to receive formal clearance from Israel to proceed.
The United Nations criticized the move as a “distraction from inaction,” urging more effective and sustained access for humanitarian aid.
International pressure on Israel has continued to mount. On Friday, Germany, France, and the UK issued a joint statement calling for Israel to “immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid” into Gaza. The statement described the situation as a “humanitarian catastrophe” and called for an end to hostilities, urging Israel to fulfill its obligations under international humanitarian law.
“Withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable,” the statement read.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres echoed the growing frustration, addressing the Amnesty International Global Assembly:
“I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we see by too many in the international community — the lack of compassion, the lack of truth, the lack of humanity.”
Guterres revealed that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food since May 27, when the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating as an alternative to the traditional UN-led aid coordination system.
As the humanitarian situation deteriorates, the international community continues to call for immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access, warning that every delay costs more innocent lives.
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