Alerts are multiplying. According to the latest report by the World Food Programme (WFP), released on Thursday, 93% of Gazans are acutely food insecure. And 26% have depleted their food reserves, now facing catastrophic levels of hunger. "There is a risk of famine in the next six months if the current situation of intense conflict and restricted humanitarian access persists," the agency said.
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"For many families in the Gaza Strip, the threat of starvation is already real," UNICEF said in a statement on Friday. Israeli strikes and ground fighting continue on Saturday 23 December in the Palestinian enclave, where the population and humanitarian organisations have been calling for an increase in aid for several weeks. It is expected to take effect after the UN Security Council adopts a resolution to that effect on Friday.
The text calls for the "immediate" and "large-scale" delivery of humanitarian aid to the territory under Israeli blockade and shelled by Israel since October 7, in response to the Hamas attack on its soil that killed 1140,<> people, according to Jerusalem.
In total, according to the Hamas terror group, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, Israeli operations have killed 20,057 people. Some 1.9 million people have fled their homes, or 85% of the population, according to the UN. The concrete scope of the text adopted on the ground is still uncertain, since humanitarian aid, which is entering the Gaza Strip in dribs and drabs, is considered insufficient to meet the needs of the population - 80% of whom were dependent on humanitarian aid before the start of the conflict.
"Days and nights without food"
"Nearly 1.2 million people are facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity and (...) famine thresholds for acute food insecurity have already been exceeded," UNICEF said. In detail, "all children under the age of five" - there are 35,000 of them - are at "high risk" of severe malnutrition and "preventable deaths". "In the coming weeks, at least 10,000 children under the age of five will suffer from the most severe form of malnutrition," the UN agency added.
In a post on X on Friday, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom said that "people are selling their goods in exchange for food." "Four out of five households in northern Gaza and half of displaced households in the south go whole days and nights without food," he added.
A total blockade
Humanitarian aid boxes at the Kerem Shalom crossing in Rafah on 21 December. MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
In mid-December, Israel was accused by Human Rights Watch of using hunger against civilians in Gaza, "which may amount to a war crime." On 9 October, Israel imposed a total blockade on Palestinian territory. "No electricity, no food, no gas ... We are fighting animals and we are acting accordingly," summed up his defence minister.
In late October, thousands of Gazans "burst in" into warehouses and distribution centres run by the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to snatch flour and "basic survival products". A statement at the time expressed concern about a "collapse" of civil order.