Gaza has become a ‘wasteland’, UNRWA chief says
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said Gaza has “become a kind of wasteland” that is now “almost unliveable”.
Speaking at a news conference in Berlin on Wednesday, Lazzarini also said famine is again possible in Gaza where vast areas have been pulverised by Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory.
“There is a real risk today … that we enter a situation where famine or acute malnutrition is unfortunately again a likelihood,” he said, noting that the upcoming winter and the weakened immune systems of Gaza’s population were a lethal combination.
Regarding aid deliveries, Lazzarini said that “over the last two to three weeks there was no convoy entering into the north except yesterday”.
He also said that with appropriate action, a hunger crisis in Gaza “can be avoided” if convoys and food are allowed to enter the territory, which has been besieged and bombarded by Israeli forces for more than a year.
Palestinians in Gaza face ‘catastrophic’ hunger this winter: UN
Some 345,000 Palestinians in Gaza will face “catastrophic” levels of hunger this winter after a fall in aid deliveries, according to a UN-backed assessment warning of a persistent risk of famine across the Palestinian territory.
This is up from the 133,000 people currently categorised as experiencing “catastrophic food insecurity”, according to a classification compiled by UN agencies and NGOs.
A surge in humanitarian assistance this summer had brought some relief to Gaza Palestinians, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report said, but September saw the lowest volume of commercial and humanitarian supplies entering the enclave since March.
As a result, it projected that the number of people experiencing catastrophic food insecurity – IPC Phase 5 – between November 2024 and April 2025 to reach 345,000, or 16 percent of the population.
The recent “sharp decline” in aid “will profoundly limit the ability of families to feed themselves and access essential goods and services in the coming months, unless reversed”, the report said.
IPC warns Gaza still at risk of famine: Report
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) finds despite the extreme hunger decline in Gaza in recent months, the enclave is still at risk of famine.
The latest findings on hunger in Gaza found that in over 1.8 million people, about 86 percent of Gaza’s population, people are experiencing food crisis levels of hunger defined as Phase 3 or higher on the IPC’s five-point scale.
Some 133,000 people, about 6 percent of the population, are in Phase 5, the highest level, known as catastrophic hunger.
While the new findings are down from earlier periods of the war, when nearly a third of the population was at Phase 5, the IPC warned that the situation could rapidly deteriorate and expects catastrophic hunger levels to double in the coming months.
The IPC references the slowdown in aid in recent weeks, the incoming cold and rainy winter, and the harsh conditions people face in crowded tent camps as reasons for the worsening hunger levels.
