UN agency warns of ‘looming famine’ in Gaza

Half a million people in Gaza face starvation and all 2.3 million experience acute food insecurity, aid agencies report.

Famine is stalking Gaza as aid agencies struggle to deliver food to the north of the enclave, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned.

Humanitarian aid has not reached people in northern Gaza for more than a month, Philippe Lazzarini said on Monday.

“The last time UNRWA was able to deliver food aid to northern Gaza was on January 23,” Lazzarini wrote on social media on Saturday.

Aid agencies claim that Israel has been delaying deliveries. Tel Aviv denies that charge as it prepares to report to the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICJ) on the measures it has taken to avert suffering in the besieged enclave.

Lazzarini said calls to allow food distribution inside Gaza amid the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hamas have been denied or “have fallen on deaf ears”.