GAZA CITY — Dozens of Palestinians are at risk of losing their lives due to the ongoing malnutrition and starvation that Israel imposes on them by continuing to block aid, including food, fuel, and medicine, from entering the enclave for over five months.
The UN famine report has been very late as Palestinians in Gaza have been witnessing months of the ongoing starvation.
We’re talking about a whole population relying on hot meal kitchens run by charities.
Despite clear signs of a humanitarian catastrophe, confirming a famine requires access to reliable data on food, nutrition, and mortality. But in Gaza, ongoing Israeli siege and bombardment, with nearly total Israeli ban on access for aid agencies and press have made those assessments nearly impossible.
Still, even this late, the declaration matters. It can trigger emergency funding, open access corridors for aid, and force the global community to act with greater urgency and stop the Israeli-made famine and genocide. It also validates what local voices and humanitarian organizations have been warning about for months. Most importantly, it could help save lives, if followed by real action.
A famine declaration isn’t the solution by itself. But in Gaza, where every day without aid is a death sentence for some, it’s a critical step toward breaking the silence and mobilizing the response that’s long overdue.
C. QNN