Over half a million people in Gaza are trapped in famine, marked by widespread starvation, destitution and preventable deaths as a result of Israeli policies, according to a new UN-backed food security report released recently.
Famine conditions are projected to spread from Gaza Governorate to Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis Governorates in the coming weeks as per the estimates of Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). It predicts that by the end of September more than 640,000 people will face ‘catastrophic’ levels of food insecurity – classified as IPC Phase 5 – across the Gaza Strip, while the number of people to face “emergency” conditions in IPC Phase 4 will likely increase to 1.14 million or 58% of the population. The report also projects that up to June 2026, malnutrition will threaten the lives of 132,000 children aged under five. The United Nations chief described the famine confirmed in Gaza City and its surrounding areas as a “failure of humanity” and “man-made disaster.”
Guterres said Israel’s denial of its duties could not be allowed to continue: “No more excuses. The time for action is not tomorrow – it is now.”
Amid this human tragedy, Israel has begun executing its unlawful plan to destroy and occupy Gaza City. Israeli forces are carrying out simultaneous bombing and demolition operations across the south, east, and north, advancing from three axes towards the city’s centre in a campaign of comprehensive destruction and systematic erasure. This escalation marks a new phase of the genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, ongoing for 23 months.
The ongoing mass destruction is accompanied by a recurring pattern of deliberate killings, with Israeli forces directly targeting anyone moving in these areas, including those fleeing death.
These practices are inflicting catastrophic and irreversible consequences on hundreds of thousands of civilians already enduring starvation and displacement.
These massacres are not fleeting or isolated incidents but the calculated outcome of an official and publicly declared Israeli policy. The international community bears responsibility for enabling them and their consequences through silence and inaction, which in many cases amounts to direct complicity.
Meanwhile, Qatar at a meeting of OIC in Jeddah highlighted that Israeli disregard for humanitarian and legal principles are a result of inaction on the part of the international community to hold it accountable. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi said there is a desperate need for global action to bring the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories to an end, lift the unjust blockade imposed on Gaza, allow unhindered flow of humanitarian aid, and ensure protection of civilians.
