Famine-like situation in Gaza, more than 5 lakh people just 'one step away' from starvation: UN warning

The Israel-Gaza war is still showing no signs of stopping. Due to this war, a humanitarian crisis has once again arisen in Gaza. There is a famine-like situation in North Gaza these days. The people of Gaza are just a few steps away from starvation, there is a shortage of food here. Since January 23, no humanitarian aid has been able to reach the people of northern Gaza, this warning was given by the World Food Program on Tuesday. Since the emergence of a serious humanitarian emergency in the Gaza Strip, the main UN aid agency there is continuously struggling to deal with it. He called on others to also provide aid to thousands of Palestinians in desperate need.

"If nothing changes, famine is imminent in northern Gaza," WFP deputy executive director Carl Schau told the UN Security Council. While his colleague, Ramesh Rajasingham, of the UN humanitarian office OCHA, warned of "almost inevitable" mass starvation. He said that we are in this situation at the end of February. About 576,000 people in Gaza, or one-fourth of the population, are one step away from famine. "One in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza suffers from severe malnutrition."

Maurizio Martina, deputy director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), warned that about 97 percent of groundwater in Gaza "is reportedly not potable, leading to a decline in agricultural production." Meanwhile, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that aid is ready and waiting to go to Gaza at the border.

Stephane Dujarric told the media, "WFP partners have also told us that they have food supplies at the border with Gaza, but under certain conditions they will be able to deliver food to 2.2 million people in the entire Strip." Said, "About 1,000 trucks carrying 15,000 metric tons of food are ready to go through Egypt." OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said in Geneva that Israeli forces were preventing them from reaching Gaza.

Israeli officials have recently refused to send any aid to northern Gaza. According to the World Health Organization, the last permission to send aid to Gaza was given on January 23. Meanwhile, the main UN aid agency in Gaza, UNRWA, said last week the chief was "at breaking point" as aid senders cut off funding. Israel is exerting pressure to destroy this body and humanitarian needs are increasing. Other agencies told the 15-member body that the Security Council should take action on this. "We must all work twice as hard and fulfill our responsibilities to ensure that similar situations do not arise on our watch," Skau said.