WHO Chief Says 'Large Proportion' Of Gaza's People 'Starving'
"A large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving. I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation -- and it's man-made," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
His statement added his voice to those of 111 aid organisations and rights groups, including MSF and Oxfam, who warned earlier Wednesday that "mass starvation" was spreading in Gaza.
"Our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away," they said in a joint statement.
Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, where more than two million people are facing severe shortages of food and other essentials after 21 months of conflict.
Even after Israel began easing a more than two-month aid blockade in late May, Gaza's population is still suffering extreme scarcities.
"The 2.1 million people trapped in the war zone that is Gaza are facing yet another killer on top of bombs and bullets: starvation," Tedros said.
"We are now witnessing a deadly surge in malnutrition-related deaths," he added.
Tedros highlighted that "rates of global acute malnutrition exceed 10 percent, and over 20 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women that have been screened are malnourished, often severely".
The UN health agency has documented 21 deaths in Gaza related to malnutrition of children under the age of five since the beginning of the year, but acknowledges that that the true number is likely higher.
The head of Gaza's largest hospital said Tuesday that 21 children had died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory over the previous three days alone.
Tedros warned that "the hunger crisis is being accelerated by the collapse of aid pipelines and restrictions on access".
The starvation is "man-made" and clearly caused by Israel's blockade on the territory, he said.
The WHO chief highlighted how starving people were risking their lives to access aid.
The UN rights office said Tuesday that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid in Gaza since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May.
"Not only 1,026 were killed while trying to feed themselves or find food for their family. Thousands were also wounded," Tedros said.
"We demand that there is full access, and we demand that there is a ceasefire," he said.
"We demand that there is a political solution to this problem, a lasting solution."
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DW
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Middle East: Aid trucks begin entering Gaza from Egypt – DW – 07/27/2025
The first aid trucks have arrived in the Palestinian territory to help ease a worsening humanitarian crisis. Israel has announced a pause in the fighting in some areas to help food distribution. DW has the latest. Aid trucks have begun entering Gaza from Egypt, Egyptian state-linked media reported, hours after Israel bowed to mounting pressure to ease the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory. "Egyptian aid trucks begin to enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing," Al-Qahera News posted on X, alongside footage of convoys moving in the border area. Israel said Saturday it had begun airdrops of aid after months of accusations that it was restricting aid supplies to the war-devastated territory. On Sunday, the Israeli military said "humanitarian corridors" would allow United Nations aid trucks to deliver food and other vital supplies to Gaza residents. The military also promised "humanitarian pauses" in the fighting in densely populated areas. 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To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The pause will take place daily in Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City, from 10 a.m. local time (0700 GMT/UTC) to 8 p.m. (1700 GMT/UTC) until further notice, the military said. Israel also said its military was not active in those areas, but there had been fighting and strikes in recent weeks. The statement added that Israel would designate secure routes to help aid agencies make vital deliveries to people across Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had airdropped humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. "The IDF recently carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip," the military posted on Telegram in the early hours of Sunday morning. The drop included seven crates of aid containing flour, sugar and canned food, it added. Footage provided by the IDF showed white parachutes opening from the crates as they were dropped from a plane into the darkness over Gaza. In a statement posted on X late Saturday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced that it would "apply a 'humanitarian pause' in civilian centers and in humanitarian corridors to enable the distribution of aid supply" in Gaza. The Foreign Ministry again blamed the United Nations for failing to distribute assistance in the Strip. It added that "Israel rejects the false accusations of 'starvation' propaganda initiated by Hamas." UN officials have rejected responsibility for the failure to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza, saying aid workers have not received the permissions necessary to provide food, water and other humanitarian aid safely. The pro-Palestinian activist group Freedom Flotilla said Saturday that Israeli forces had intercepted its latest Gaza-bound aid boat, theHandala. "The Israeli army is here. We are throwing our phones into the sea. See you soon. Stop the genocide," Emma Fourreau, a French member of the European Parliament and part of the Handala crew, posted on X. A livestream broadcast by the group showed the activists sitting on deck with their hands up as Israeli soldiers boarded the boat. The Handala had already sailed closer to Gaza than the group's previous vessel, the Madleen, which was intercepted by Israeli forces last month. At the start of the ongoing war, Israel tightened it maritime blockade of the Palestinian territory, which went into place when Hamas took control of Gaza in Israeli military announced that airdrops of aid to Gaza would resume and that humanitarian corridors would be established for United Nations convoys. "The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations," it said in a statement. The military's statement did not specify when the humanitarian corridors would open or where. It said that the military "emphasizes that combat operations have not ceased" in Gaza against Hamas. The statement also added that there is "no starvation" in the territory. International health and aid organizations have repeatedly raised concerns about the dire conditions and severe shortage of essential supplies in Gaza during the 21-month conflict. Experts have also criticized airdrops of aid as vastly insufficient for the some 2 million Palestinians in Gaza in desperate need of food, water, medicine and other supplies. Before the start of the war in Gaza, 500 truckloads of goods crossed into the Palestinian territory each day, according to the United Nations The Emirati foreign minister said on Saturday that the United Arab Emirates will resume airdrops to deliver aid to Gaza at once. "The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level," Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan posted on X. "We will ensure essential aid reaches those most in need, whether through land, air or sea. Airdrops are resuming once more, immediately." His remarks follow Israel's announcement on Friday that it would allow airdrops of aid by foreign countries into Gaza to alleviate starvation in the Palestinian territory. The relatives of 50 hostages still in Gaza are growing more frustrated. Some are losing faith that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ever strike a deal to bring them home. DW's Tania Krämer met Yehuda Cohen in front of the Likud party's Tel Aviv headquarters at a sit-in organized by families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. His son, Nimrod, has been held captive for 22 months. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The United Kingdom is working with Middle Eastern allies including Jordan on plans to airdrop aid into the Gaza Strip and evacuate children in need of medical care, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said on Saturday. "The prime minister set out how the UK will be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance," read a statement after Starmer held a three-way phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. During the conversation, the three leaders agreed that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "appalling" and that it would be "vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace," according to the Downing Street readout. "They discussed their intention to work closely together on a plan ... which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region," it continued. "They agreed that once this plan was worked up, they would seek to bring in other key partners, including in the region, to advance it." In Berlin, Chancellor Merz's office spoke of "large agreement" on the call – despite Germany so far refusing to criticize Israel to the extent that the UK and France have done, with the latter even set to officially recognize Palestinian statehood later this year. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "We will be coordinating very closely in the coming days to take the next steps," said Merz. The phone call came a day after United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience." For the first time in months, Israel said it is allowing airdrops, requested by neighboring Jordan. An official in Amman said the airdrops will mainly be food and milk formula. But the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned on social media that airdrops are "expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians" and won't reverse the increasing starvation or prevent aid diversion. "A man-made hunger can only be addressed by political will," he said, demanding: "Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Some 40 people died while trying to access humanitarian aid, including 16 who were shot by Israeli forces, in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to local Palestinian authorities and medics. Doctors at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said that 16 people were killed and another 300 injured near the northern Zikim border crossing waiting for trucks carrying aid. One witness told the AFP news agency that Israeli troops opened fire "while the people were waiting to approach the distribution point." The Israeli military told AFP that its troops fired "warning shots to distance the crowd" after identifying an unspecified "immediate threat." 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Int'l Business Times
a day ago
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'Famine', 'Starvation': The Challenges In Defining Gaza's Plight
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She said it was "impossible" for them to screen children, take their measurements, or assess their weight-to-height ratio. Jean-Raphael Poitou, Middle East programme director for the NGO Action Against Hunger, said the "continuous displacements" of Gazans ordered by the Israeli military, along with restrictions on movement in the most affected regions; "complicate things enormously". Nabil Tabbal, incident manager at the WHO's emergency programme, said there were "challenges regarding data, regarding access to information". For France's foreign ministry, malnutrition and the "risk of famine" is the "result of the blockade imposed by Israel". The Israeli military denies it is blocking humanitarian aid entering Gaza. On Tuesday it claimed that 950 truckloads of aid were inside the Strip waiting for collection and distribution by international organisations. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer insisted there was "no famine caused by Israel. 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In Somalia in 2011, when famine was formally declared, half of the total number of victims of the disaster had already died of starvation. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after a deadly attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023. The Israeli campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Naeema, a Palestinian mother, carries her malnourished two-year-old son Yazan as they stand in their damaged home in the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City AFP Displaced Palestinians at the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza seen hauling hard-to-get food parcels and other items AFP
