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Gaza Strip: Humanitarians warn of worsening famine conditions, attacks on civilians

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Of the 154 malnutrition-related deaths since October 2023 (including 89 children) reported by Gazan health authorities, the World Health Organization (WHO) said 63 occurred in July alone.

These deaths follow a steep drop in food consumption: 81 per cent of households reported poor food consumption in July (up from 33 per cent in April), and 24 per cent experienced severe hunger (up from 4 per cent), crossing the famine threshold, according to the humanitarian update issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday.

Acute malnutrition rates also surpassed famine thresholds in Khan Younis, Deir al Balah and Gaza City.

Given these recent figures, IPC food security experts warned that the worst-case famine scenario is unfolding. However, they added that while the third famine threshold of starvation-related deaths is rising, collecting data remains a challenge. 

UN agencies caution that time is running out for a full-scale humanitarian response. 22 per cent of the analyzed population is facing “catastrophic” level of food insecurity, and a further 54 per cent is at “emergency” level. 

At the same time, less than 15 per cent of essential nutrition services remain functional.

Attacks on civilians

Of the over 60,000 Palestinians reported killed since October 2023, nearly 9,000 died after hostilities reignited in March, and 640 between 23 and 30 July.

Civilian casualties while seeking food are also rising, with 1,239 killed and over 8,152 injured since 27 May.

OCHA further noted that displacement figures since 18 March have surpassed 767,800, though no new evacuation orders were issued by Israeli authorities since 20 July. The 20 July order affecting a humanitarian hub in Deir al Balah has since been rescinded.

Amid ongoing displacement, overcrowding in shelters, lack of privacy and worsening hunger has elevated the risk of gender-based violence (GBV) for women and girls.  

The conditions are especially dire in southern Gaza, where there are no longer any safe shelters for GBV survivors.

Humanitarian measures

Between 23 and 29 July, only 47 per cent of 92 coordinated aid movements were fully facilitated by Israeli authorities. About 16 per cent were denied, 26 per cent impeded after initial approval and 11 per cent withdrawn by organizers.

The Israeli military announced a daily 10-hour pause in military activity, beginning 27 July, in Al Mawasi, Deir al Balah and Gaza City “to increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.”

They also announced measures including airdrops of flour, sugar and canned food; the reconnection of the power line from Israel to the southern Gaza desalination plant; the removal of customs barriers on food, medicine, and fuel from Egypt; and the designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys.

However, humanitarian partners warned that airdrops could endanger civilians, lead to unequal distribution and fall short of needs.

Working with limited funding

In addition, lack of sufficient funding is also hampering response efforts.

As of 30 July, only about 21 per cent of the $4 billion requested for the 2025 urgent humanitarian appeal for the region has been secured, leaving critical gaps. 

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UN warns of worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan as displacement, hunger and disease escalate

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The situation is particularly dire in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, which has witnessed some of the worst episodes of the ongoing conflict between rival militaries.

Those remaining in El Fasher are facing “extreme shortages” of food and clean water, with markets repeatedly disrupted, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the regular news briefing in New York.

Across the city, nearly 40 per cent of children under five are suffering from acute malnutrition, including 11 per cent with severe acute malnutrition.

Most of the surrounding water infrastructure has also been destroyed or rendered non-functional due to minimal maintenance and fuel shortages, Mr. Dujarric added.  

El Fasher displacement

Since April 2023, an estimated 780,000 people have been displaced from El Fasher town and the nearby Zamzam displacement camps, including nearly 500,000 in April and May of this year.

Famine conditions have been confirmed in the area since last August.

About three-quarters of Zamzam camp’s residents fled to various locations across Tawila, where the UN and its partners have scaled up critical humanitarian assistance.

Cholera outbreak continues

Mr. Dujarric further warned that the breakdown of water and sanitation services, combined with low vaccination coverage, has sharply increased the risk of disease outbreaks, including cholera.

So far this year, Sudan has reported more than 32,000 suspected cholera cases.

According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) cholera cases continue to rise across Darfur, with over 300 suspected cases and more than two dozen deaths reported in South Darfur state last week alone.

“Conflict and collapsing infrastructure continue to drive the spread of the disease and impede response efforts,” Mr. Dujarric stressed.

Unprecedented and complex crisis

Since war erupted between the former allies-turned-rivals, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and more than 12 million forced to flee their homes – including approximately four million as refugees in neighbouring countries.

The crisis is unfolding against a backdrop of extreme vulnerability, as the country remains highly susceptible to the impacts of climate change and disasters.

From severe droughts to deadly floods, the compounded effects of conflict and environmental instability are pushing communities to the brink, leaving them struggling to survive. Famine has already been declared in some parts of the country, putting millions of lives at risk.

Lack of resources hamstring response

Despite growing needs, the $4.2 billion humanitarian response plan for 2025, which aims to assist around 21 million of the most vulnerable people, remains only 21 per cent funded, having received $896 million so far.

Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, underscored the gravity of the situation in El Fasher.

Civilians in the area remain cut off from aid and face the risk of starvation, he said in a post on social media.

Appealing for an urgent humanitarian pause, he warned that “every day without access costs lives.” 

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UN chief ‘appalled’ by worsening Gaza crisis as civilians face displacement, aid blockades

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Multiple attacks in recent days have killed and injured scores of Palestinians at sites hosting displaced people and others attempting to access essential supplies, according to a statement from UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric on Thursday.

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the loss of civilian life,” Mr. Dujarric said.

On just one day this week, nearly 30,000 people were forced to flee under new Israeli relocation orders, with no safe place to go and clearly inadequate supplies of shelter, food, medicine or water, he added.

Critical systems shutting down

With no fuel having entered Gaza in over 17 weeks, the UN chief is also “gravely concerned that the last lifelines for survival are being cut off.”

“Without an urgent influx of fuel, incubators will shut down, ambulances will be unable to reach the injured and sick, and water cannot be purified,” Mr. Dujarric said.

“The delivery by the United Nations and partners of what little of our lifesaving humanitarian aid is left in Gaza will also grind to a halt.”

The Secretary-General reiterated his call for safe and sustained humanitarian access so aid can reach people in desperate need.

“The UN has a clear and proven plan, rooted in the humanitarian principles, to get vital assistance to civilians – safely and at scale, wherever they are,” Mr. Dujarric said.

The Secretary-General reiterated his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups. He reminded all parties that international humanitarian law must be upheld.

Displacement continues

Displacement remains relentless. On Wednesday, Israeli authorities issued a new evacuation order in parts of Gaza City, affecting some 40,000 people and including a displacement site, a medical point and one of the few neighbourhoods that had remained untouched by such orders since before the March ceasefire.

Since that ceasefire collapsed, over 50 such orders have been issued, now covering 78 per cent of Gaza’s territory.

“Add the Israeli-militarized zones and that percentage jumps to 85 – leaving just 15 per cent where civilians can actually stay,” Mr. Dujarric said, briefing reporters at the UN Headquarters, in New York.

Those areas are overcrowded and severely lacking in services or proper infrastructure.

“Imagine having just over two million people in Manhattan – which is actually slightly bigger – but instead of buildings, the area is strewn with the rubble of demolished and bombed-out structures, without infrastructure or basic support,” the UN Spokesperson said.

“And in Gaza, these remaining areas are also fragmented and unsafe.”

UN reiterates call for urgent de-escalation amid Iran-Israel conflict, worsening Gaza crisis

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In a joint call to de-escalate, UN agencies have warned that further conflict risks triggering new displacement in a region already strained by decades of war and instability.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) noted military strikes have led people in both Iran and Israel to flee their homes in search of safety from tit-for-tat missile strikes.

“Movements have been reported from Tehran and other parts of Iran, with some choosing to cross into neighbouring countries,” the agency stated. Meanwhile, “shelling has caused people in Israel to seek shelter elsewhere in the country and in some cases abroad.”

“This region has already endured more than its share of war, loss, and displacement – we cannot allow another refugee crisis to take root,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “The time to de-escalate is right now. Once people are forced to flee, there’s no quick way back – and all too often, the consequences last for generations.”

UNHCR urged countries in the region to respect the right to seek asylum and ensure humanitarian access to those affected, while calling on all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Nuclear risks rise as Iran facilities hit

The conflict escalated sharply following Israeli airstrikes on multiple Iranian nuclear-related sites in the past week, including a centrifuge manufacturing workshop in Esfahan, according to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“This is the third such facility that has been targeted over the past week,” Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi confirmed, noting that the facility had been under IAEA surveillance as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the nuclear deal signed with Iran in 2015, which the United States pulled out of in 2017.

“We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” he said. However, Mr. Grossi warned that continued strikes on nuclear infrastructure are severely undermining nuclear safety and security.

“Though they have not so far led to a radiological release affecting the public, there is a danger this could occur.”

The IAEA has been tracking damage to sites in Esfahan, Arak, Karaj, Natanz and Tehran since the Israeli military campaign against Iran began on 13 June. T

he agency has been providing regular updates to the UN Security Council, which has yet to reach consensus on a response. On Friday, ambassadors debating the escalation heard during an emergency meeting in New York heard UN Secretary-General António Guterres warn that if fighting escalated it could “ignite a fire no one can control.”

Gaza in ruins, Palestinians face starvation

The mounting regional crisis is unfolding against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, where humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate.

On Saturday, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, painted a grim picture of life in the enclave during an address to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul.

“In Gaza, two million people are being starved,” he said bluntly. “The newly created, so-called ‘aid mechanism’ is an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people. It is a death-trap, costing more lives than it saves.”

Lazzarini described a territory devastated by nearly two years of conflict, with more than 55,000 reported dead by local authorities in the Strip – the majority of them women and children.

Survivors, he said, “are shadows of their former selves; their lives forever changed by unspeakable trauma and profound loss.”

In the occupied West Bank, displacement and destruction of public infrastructure are altering the demography of Palestinian camps, he added, in what he described as an effort to erase the prospect of a Palestinian State under the UN-backed two-State solution and strip Palestinians of refugee status.

UNRWA in the crosshairs

“UNRWA has become an objective of this war,” Mr. Lazzarini warned, citing the deaths of at least 318 of the agency’s staff in Gaza since the 7 October terror attacks on Israel by Hamas and other militants, the expulsion of international staff, and a campaign of disinformation aimed at crippling its funding.

Despite these pressures, UNRWA continues to provide lifesaving services, including over 15,000 health consultations per day, waste management and shelter support.

UNRWA’s financial situation is now “dire,” the agency chief said. “Without additional funding, I will soon have to take unprecedented decisions affecting our operations across the region.”

He appealed to Member States to act urgently: “The sudden loss or reduction of UNRWA’s services will only deepen suffering and despair across the occupied Palestinian territory. It might spark unrest in the neighbouring countries. This is something that the region cannot afford, especially now.”

Thousands flee homes in Mozambique as conflict and disasters fuel worsening crisis

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The latest displacement brings the total number of people uprooted by violence, cyclones and social unrest in Mozambique to nearly 1.3 million, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

The situation is particularly dire in Cabo Delgado province, where attacks by non-state armed groups continue to drive displacement, destroy infrastructure and disrupt recovery efforts.

“Thousands have lost their homes, many for the second or third time and are seeking safety in already overstretched communities,” Xavier Creach, UNHCR Representative in Mozambique told journalists at a regular news briefing in Geneva on Friday.

A ‘triple crisis’

Mr. Creach warned that the southeast African country is grappling with a “triple crisis” – armed conflict and displacement, recurring extreme weather events, and months of post-electoral unrest.

At the same time, extreme weather events – most recently Cyclone Jude in March – have devastated communities already hosting large numbers of displaced families. Food prices have surged by up to 20 per cent in some areas, compounding the strain on households and deepening the economic fragility in one of the world’s poorest countries.

The risks facing displaced people, particularly women and children, are severe. Protection concerns, including gender-based violence, family separation and limited access to documentation, are rising sharply.

According to UNHCR estimates, nearly 5.2 million people across the country require some form of humanitarian assistance.

Dwindling funds

In the challenging environment, UNHCR’s response is constrained by lack of funding with less than one-third of the $42.7 million funding appeal for the year met so far.

The agency warned that unless urgent support is mobilized, vital programmes will be at risk.

The broader UN humanitarian appeal, addressing other critical sectors such as nutrition and food security, health, water and sanitation, and education also faces severe shortages, having received only about 15 per cent of the required $352 million.

“A perfect storm is gathering. If we turn away now, the country will face a much larger humanitarian emergency,” Mr. Creach said.

“The crisis is unfolding now. We have a choice. We can act to prevent, support and protect – or we can sit on our hands.”

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