World Food Programme warns: Half a million people in Gaza on the brink of famine

The World Food Programme of the United Nations warned in a press release that about 500,000 people in Gaza are facing the risk of famine, while the rest of the population lives at "emergency" levels of food insecurity, amid the ongoing Israeli blockade and continuous aggression on the sector.

The programme confirmed that "the ongoing conflict, the collapse of essential services, and severe restrictions on the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid have led to catastrophic humanitarian conditions throughout Gaza".

The statement revealed that more than 320,000 children under the age of five in Gaza are at risk of acute malnutrition, noting that "thousands of them are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, which is the most dangerous form of nutritional deficiency and directly threatens their lives".

The programme also indicated that one in three people in Gaza goes for consecutive days without food, amid the collapse of basic nutrition services, including a lack of clean water, breast milk substitutes, and therapeutic nutrition for infants.

The statement explained that "the limited amount of food delivered so far covers only a tiny fraction of what the population of over two million people needs to survive", calling on the international community to "ensure the immediate and safe delivery of food and to take urgent action to ceasefire".

This warning comes after more than ten months of intensified Israeli blockade on Gaza, which has caused a near-total paralysis of humanitarian and medical services, due to the destruction of infrastructure and restrictions on the movement of aid across the crossings. Multiple international organizations have warned of the repercussions of this crisis, confirming that it heralds an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in the besieged sector.