In yet another damning testament to the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe faced by civilians in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) revealed on Wednesday that hunger is no longer affecting only children and people with disabilities, even its own staff are now fainting from starvation in the besieged territory.
In a post on X, UNRWA stated that
“People in Gaza, including our staff, are fainting from extreme hunger,” confirming that Palestinians, including children and persons with disabilities, are dying as a result of severe malnutrition.
The UN agency stressed the urgent need to lift the blockade immediately to allow the entry of life-saving humanitarian aid. It pointed out that thousands of its trucks are stranded in neighbouring countries, waiting for clearance to enter, after the Israeli authorities blocked their entry to Gaza in March.
This warning comes just one day after the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced the death of 15 Palestinians, including 4 children, within a single 24-hour period, bringing the total number of deaths due to famine and malnutrition since October 2023 to 101, among them 80 children.
Despite mounting international warnings, the occupying authorities continue to tighten their grip. For over 140 days, all crossings have been almost entirely closed, halting the entry of food, medicine, and aid, and leaving the Strip to face a deadly fate.
Currently, more than 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza are living without shelter, after Israeli military aggression destroyed their homes as part of a deliberate policy of forced displacement and starvation, in clear violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit collective punishment and the targeting of civilians.
What is happening in Gaza is no longer merely a humanitarian crisis; it is a fully fledged chapter of genocide being carried out by the occupying authorities, with the explicit backing of the United States, through systematic killing, starvation, and destruction. Since 7 October 2023, over 201,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured, the majority of whom are women and children, while more than 9,000 remain missing, and thousands are suffering from famine, all amid international inaction.
As Israel refuses to implement a prisoner exchange or ceasefire agreement since March, and defies the orders of the International Court of Justice, the siege has become a tool of deliberate extermination, confirming that Gaza’s suffering is not a consequence of war, it is one of its intended outcomes.
While Gaza’s children cry out for a sip of water or a scrap of food, their pleas are met with bullets. The major capitals remain silent, offering only empty statements. And the question remains on How many more children must die before the world’s conscience wakes up?
