In testimony before the UN Security Council yesterday, at a hearing convened by Algeria, Guyana, Slovenia and Switzerland, three UN humanitarian agencies documented the human catastrophe occurring in Gaza—looming starvation, malnutrition and unspeakable deprivation UN News reported in “Security Council Hears Gaza Famine ‘Almost Inevitable’ Unless Aid Is Massively Scaled Up.” Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program warned that “if nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza,” by May with 500,000 people at risk.
Gaza, he added, “is seeing the worst level of child malnutrition anywhere in the world.” One child in six under the age of two is acutely malnourished, suffering from wasting, which is the most life-threatening form of malnutrition. Ramesh Rajasingham, deputy chief of the Office of the Commissioner of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had submitted a “White Note” on Feb. 22, warning that at least 576,000 people were facing “catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation” across Gaza, cautioning that these are conservative figures, because the risk of famine is growing every day that the war continues, and obstacles to humanitarian relief continue. Speaking for the Arab Group, Tunisia’s Permanent Representative Tarek Ladeb warned that hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks are piled up along entry points but unable to enter Gaza, making a mockery of Israel’s claim that aid trucks can enter Gaza at any time and that the UN is at fault if there are problems.
