DaysofPal – Senior UN officials have expressed concern about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, stating that the amount of hunger and suffering there is unprecedented.
Speaking to reporters at UN headquarters following a recent visit to Gaza, Carl Skau, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), described the situation as “worse than I have ever seen before,” both in terms of need and the near-total collapse of humanitarian access.
“The entire population is food insecure,” Skau said, citing recent data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. “Half a million people are facing extreme hunger, and the situation has only worsened since that report was published.”
He added that 90,000 children in Gaza now urgently need treatment for malnutrition. “One in three people are going entire days without eating,” Skau said.
“Mothers told me they try to stop their children from playing, just to save the little energy their bodies can manage on the few spoonfuls of food they get.”
Many families, he said, survive on nothing more than hot water with lentils or scraps of pasta.
Children Starve While Aid Waits at the Border
Skau emphasized that humanitarian agencies, including the WFP, are ready and able to deliver life-saving aid but are being obstructed by severe access restrictions. “We have enough food stockpiled at the border to feed everyone in Gaza for two months,” he said. “But we can’t get it in.”
“For a time, after some easing of the blockade, we were able to bring in 20 to 30 trucks a day, which is nowhere near enough. When I visited, a kilo of wheat flour was selling for over $25. These are prices no one can afford.”
He noted that, for the first time in days, a small aid delivery was allowed through the Zikim crossing into northern Gaza. “But we need all routes open, from Jordan, Egypt, and Israel, and we need safety guarantees for aid workers and civilians alike.”
Skau’s testimony was echoed by Tom Fletcher, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, who painted a stark picture of the horrors unfolding inside the besieged territory.
“People in Gaza are facing death, injury, displacement, and the stripping away of their dignity,” Fletcher said. “We are seeing civilians killed while waiting in line for food. That is not a debate; that is a war crime.”
Fletcher underscored Israel’s obligations as the occupying power under international law: “Israel must ensure access to food and medicine for the population. That is not a choice; it’s a legal duty. But that’s simply not happening.”
The Collapse of Normal Life
The situation, both officials said, defies description. “We’re running out of words,” Fletcher admitted. “Food is vanishing. People who ask for it risk being shot. Field hospitals are receiving the dead while hearing the same stories from the wounded every day. Parents are watching their children die not from bombs, but from starvation.”
Both Skau and Fletcher stressed the urgency of a ceasefire, not just to stop the killing, but to allow humanitarian lifelines into Gaza before even more lives are lost to preventable hunger.
“We have enough food at the border to feed the entire population for about two months,” Skau said. “But it is clear that we need a ceasefire.” He emphasized the need to open all roads from Jordan, Egypt, and Israel and to ensure security conditions that allow aid delivery to reach those most in need.
“We want to be able to deliver in the north,” he added, referring to the newly reopened Zikim crossing, “because we believe that is the only way to help reduce levels of despair and prices.”
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