Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said that famine is silently unfolding in Gaza.

This sobering comment comes amidst increasingly severe malnutrition for children and adults throughout the Gaza Strip. 

“When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food and care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold,” Lazzarini said in a tweet.  

Reportedly at least 100 people have died from hunger, and WHO has documented at least 21 cases of children under the age of five dying from malnutrition, confirming that bombs are not the only thing that kills civilians in Gaza.

Since March 2, Israel has shut down all border crossings with the Gaza Strip, preventing the entry of hundreds of aid trucks and further exacerbating the already dire humanitarian crisis.

Despite mounting international pressure to agree to a ceasefire, the Israeli military has continued its devastating offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023. The assault has claimed the lives of more than 59,700 Palestinians—most of them women and children—while widespread bombardment has reduced large parts of the enclave to rubble and triggered severe shortages of food and essential supplies.