Gaza City — In a region already battered by war, the people of Gaza now face a second, slower death — not by bombs, but by hunger. As Israeli airstrikes continue and border crossings remain sealed, the besieged territory is plunging into a full-blown food catastrophe. What little aid that once trickled in has now been choked off entirely, leaving over two million Palestinians on the brink of starvation.
In recent weeks, aid organizations like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the World Food Programme (WFP), and Red Crescent have issued dire warnings. Food warehouses have been bombed. Convoys have been turned back. Israeli authorities have refused entry to critical humanitarian shipments, citing “security concerns” — a phrase that now means death for Gaza’s children.
According to the WFP, more than 90% of Gaza’s population is food insecure. Families survive on one meal a day — often bread made from animal feed or boiled weeds. With electricity blacked out and fuel cut off, ovens don’t work. Fridges are useless. Even clean water is a luxury.
“There are no more tomatoes, no milk, no lentils,” said Amal, a 32-year-old mother of four in northern Gaza. “My baby drinks water with sugar — when we have sugar. Most days, we have nothing.”
Israel’s total blockade since late 2023 has devastated Gaza’s supply lines. Border crossings at Rafah and Kerem Shalom — once lifelines for food and medicine — have been closed for months or opened sporadically under intense restrictions. Israeli authorities have reportedly delayed or rejected aid shipments due to the presence of items like oxygen tanks, surgical tools, and even canned goods.
A UN official speaking anonymously confirmed that dozens of aid trucks have been forced to turn back or sit idle at the Egyptian side of the border for days. “This is not a siege,” the official said. “It’s engineered famine.”
The effects are catastrophic.
Children are wasting away from malnutrition. Hospitals — already in ruins from Israeli bombings — can no longer treat the sick who arrive with empty stomachs and infected wounds. Doctors report a sharp increase in gastrointestinal diseases, dehydration, and starvation-related complications.
In one Gaza hospital, a nurse broke down while describing a toddler who died after eating spoiled food. “His mother cried, saying she knew it was rotten, but it was all she had,” the nurse said.
International law is clear: collective punishment and the use of starvation as a weapon are war crimes. But in Gaza, the line between military strategy and humanitarian destruction has long been erased.
The Israeli government maintains that any restrictions are necessary to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas. Yet aid workers insist the policies are indiscriminate and punitive. “This blockade targets civilians, not militants,” said a spokesperson for Médecins Sans Frontières. “You don’t bomb bakeries and then say it’s about security.”
Meanwhile, global silence grows deafening. Western governments, including the United States and most of Europe, have failed to pressure Israel to lift the blockade or guarantee safe humanitarian corridors. Some, like the UK and Germany, have even suspended funding to key aid groups over political accusations, further choking off resources.
In a speech to the UN, the Palestinian envoy pleaded for immediate international intervention. “This is not a food crisis,” he said. “It is forced famine — and the world is watching it happen in real time.”
Despite mounting death tolls, Israel faces little accountability. With each passing day, Gaza becomes less a war zone and more a death camp — isolated, starved, and abandoned.
Conclusion
What’s happening in Gaza is not an accident of war — it is a deliberate strategy of deprivation. A people already bombed and blockaded are now being starved into submission. The question is no longer whether Gaza is experiencing a humanitarian crisis. It is: How many more must die before the world decides to act?
