As the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza continues to escalate, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has once again issued a dire plea for the immediate lifting of the Israeli blockade on the besieged enclave, warning that famine is spreading rapidly among the population.

In a statement released Monday via its official X (formerly Twitter) account, UNRWA stated: “We are receiving desperate messages about famine from Gaza — including from our own colleagues.” The agency revealed that in some parts of Gaza, food prices have surged by up to 40 times, making essential sustenance unaffordable even for those who have access to aid corridors.

The UN agency underscored the tragic irony that while famine grips the interior of Gaza, “UNRWA has enough pre-positioned food supplies in its warehouses on the outskirts of Gaza to cover the needs of the entire population for more than three months.” However, due to the ongoing siege and lack of humanitarian access, these supplies remain out of reach for starving families.

According to the latest figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health and humanitarian partners, more than 70% of children under five are suffering from acute malnutrition in northern Gaza, with infants and elderly citizens the most at risk. Reports from Al-Shifa and Kamal Adwan hospitals, operating under extreme shortages, confirm a growing number of deaths directly linked to starvation and dehydration, many of them among newborns and pregnant women.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF have also warned that unless unfettered aid access is granted immediately, Gaza could witness one of the worst man-made famines in modern history. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report recently categorized the entire population of northern Gaza as being in Phase 5 — the most extreme classification, signifying full-blown famine.

UNRWA reiterated its call: “We urgently need the siege to be lifted and safe, large-scale aid entry permitted. It is not a matter of capacity, but of political will.”

The Israeli blockade on Gaza, now entering its 10th month of intensified closure, has crippled infrastructure, destroyed local agriculture, and left over 2.2 million people — more than 80% of whom are displaced — in complete dependency on external food, water, and medical supplies.

Meanwhile, international human rights groups continue to condemn the blockade as collective punishment in violation of international law. Several UN officials have called on the international community to pressure Israel to fulfill its obligations as an occupying power.

Despite mounting global outrage, aid deliveries remain sporadic and insufficient. Gaza’s civilians — particularly children — continue to suffer the most, as starvation is wielded as a tool of war in what many observers are now openly describing as a campaign of deliberate attrition. (ILKHA)