People carry relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private U.S.-backed aid group that has bypassed the longstanding U.N.-led system in the territory, as displaced Palestinians return from an aid distribution centre in the central Gaza Strip on June 8, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP
A worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in Gaza, and immediate action is needed to end fighting and allow unimpeded aid access, a global hunger monitor warned on Tuesday (July 29, 2025), saying failure to act now would result in widespread death.
Its alert coincided with a statement from Gaza health authorities saying Israel’s military campaign had now killed more than 60,000 Palestinians.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday (July 29, 2025) that a trickle of aid into the Gaza Strip must become an ocean. “Food, water, medicine and fuel must flow in waves and without obstruction,” he said. “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes,” he added in a statement.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) raised the prospect that the man-made starvation crisis could be formally classified as a famine, in the hope that this might raise the pressure on Israel to let far more food deliveries in. “Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the IPC said.
The World Food Programme says almost 4.7 lakh people are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition. Gaza’s health ministry says at least 147 people have died of hunger, including 88 children, most in the last few weeks.
Published – July 29, 2025 11:30 pm IST
