People in Gaza starving, sick and dying as aid blockade continues

The risk of famine in Gaza is increasing with the deliberate withholding of humanitarian aid, including food, in the ongoing blockade.

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The plan recently announced by Israeli authorities to deliver food and other essential items across Gaza via proposed distribution sites is grossly inadequate to meet the immediate needs of over two million people. WHO echoes the UN’s call for the global humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality to be upheld and respected and for unimpeded humanitarian access to be granted to provide aid based on people’s needs, wherever they may be. A well-established and proven humanitarian coordination system, led by the UN and its partners, is already in place and must be allowed to function fully to ensure that aid is delivered in a principled, timely, and equitable manner.

The aid blockade and shrinking humanitarian access continue to undermine WHO’s ability to support 16 outpatient and three inpatient malnutrition treatment centres with life-saving supplies, and to sustain the broader health system. The remaining supplies in WHO’s stocks inside Gaza are only enough to treat 500 children with acute malnutrition – a fraction of the urgent need – while essential medicines and supplies to treat diseases and trauma injuries are already running out and cannot be replenished due to the blockade.

People are dying while WHO and partners’ life-saving medical supplies sit just outside Gaza – ready for deployment, with safeguards in place to ensure the aid reaches those who need it most in line with humanitarian principles. WHO calls for the protection of health care and for an immediate end to the aid blockade, which is starving people, obstructing their right to health, and robbing them of dignity and hope. WHO calls for the release of all hostages, and for a ceasefire, which leads to lasting peace.