“There is mass starvation in Gaza,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus asserted on Wednesday, aligning with a statement by 110 aid organisations released earlier that day.

“A large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving. I don’t know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it’s man-made,” Tedros told a media briefing on Wednesday, referring to aid blockage since the controversial private organisation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) assumed control over aid distribution.

“Rates of acute malnutrition exceed 10%, and over 20% of pregnant and breastfeeding women that have been screened are malnourished, often severely,” said Tedros.

“The hunger crisis is being accelerated by the collapse of aid pipelines and restrictions on access [with] 95% of households in Gaza facing severe water shortages.”

In their statement, the aid organisations including Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), CARE, Christian Aid, Save the Children and Oxfam, urged governments to ensure that Israel ends “the siege of Gaza” and allows “the full flow of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items, and fuel through a principled, UN-led mechanism”.

For the past two months, aid has not been channelled through UN agencies but rather via the GHF, which is supported by the governments of Israel and the United States.

Since the GHF assumed control over aid distribution on 27 May, over 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to get food at the GHF distribution centres, according to the United Nations human rights office on Tuesday.

“Doctors report record rates of acute malnutrition, especially among children and older people,” according to the aid organisations. 

“Illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration. Distributions in Gaza average just 28 trucks a day, far from enough for over two million people, many of whom have gone weeks without assistance.”

‘Tip of the iceberg’

“I don’t know why we’re even splitting hairs,” said Tedros, in reference to debate about whether Gazans were starving. “Not only were 1,026 people killed while trying to feed themselves or find food for their family, but thousands were also wounded.”

“We demand that there is full access [for humanitarian aid], and we demand that there is a ceasefire. We demand that there is a political solution to this problem, a lasting solution. And we also demand the release of the hostages, as we have always said,” Tedros concluded.

On Monday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that a quarter of Gaza’s population faces famine-like conditions.

Dr Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Palestine, said that malnutrition in Gaza had been negligible before Israel attacked Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The malnutrition rate in children under the age of five was 0.6% then, while it did not exist in pregnant women or the elderly.

But this year, around 30,000 children are reported to be malnourished and 21 have died of hunger, said Peeperkorn, describing these statistics as “the tip of the iceberg”.

“In July alone, 5,100 children have been admitted to the malnutrition programme, including 880 children with severe malnutrition,” said Peeperkorn.

Several hospitals in the territory do not have the staff or supplies to function and have become malnutrition treatment centres, but two months ago, they lacked nutritional supplements for patients, he said.

Aid staff also face starvation.

Peeperkorn added that UN staff members were facing the same conditions of lack of water and food, and there was widespread “absolute lethargy” in Gaza as people lacked the energy to do basic tasks.

The aid organisations similarly reported that their staff are hungry and don’t have access to clean water.

 “Aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes,” they said.

“Doctors, nurses, journalists, humanitarians, among them UNRWA staff, are hungry… fainting due to hunger and exhaustion while performing their duties,” Juliette Touma, director of communications for the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), said in a media statement on Tuesday.

Touma described “the so-called GHF distribution scheme” as  “a sadistic death-trap”, adding that “snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they’re given a license to kill”.

She also told of massive food prices, recounting that a colleague paid almost $200 for a bag of lentils and some flour, after walking for hours to buy it.

The GHF claimed on Monday that, “Since launching operations on May 27, we’ve distributed nearly 85 million meals via more than 1.4 million boxes—directly to the people of Gaza”.

However, Israeli media outlet Haaretz said that GHF should have distributed several times this amount to ensure sufficient food.

“If roughly 2.1 million people live in the Gaza Strip today, it’s preferable for them to eat three meals a day, and GHF had been in operation for 56 days as of Monday, how many meals should it have distributed? A simple calculation produces the answer – 353 million,” reported the news outlet.

The GHF has also been criticised for distributing dry food when people are unable to cook, setting up too few food distribution centres and locating them in isolated areas, forcing thousands of people to walk long distances while exposed to IDF attacks and stampedes.

Over 90% of Gaza is under Israeli evacuation orders, and nowhere is safe for residents.

Earlier this week, the GHF offered to distribute the UN’s aid but the UN responded on Wednesday, saying that it would not work with any groups that put civilians’ lives in danger.

WHO staff detention and warehouse destruction

Meanwhile, one WHO staff member remains in Israeli detention following an Israeli Defence Force attack on the WHO’s staff residence and its biggest warehouse in Deir al Balah.

Declining to name the staff member, Tedros said he had written to Israel’s Foreign Minister to demand his release and would take this up “at the highest level” if he remained in custody.

The IDF attack on the warehouse caused severe damage, destroying “a substantial amount of medical supplies in all areas: trauma, antibiotics and anaesthesia”, said Peeperkorn.

However, while this was a setback for the global organisation, it had identified other potential premises and would continue to support health facilities in Gaza, he added.

“We demand that there is full access, and we demand that there is a ceasefire. We demand that there is a political solution to this problem, a lasting solution. And we also demand the release of the hostages,” said Tedros.

Tougher EU stance against Israel?

The European Union (EU) seems to be toughening its stance against Israel in the face of the growing outcry over the starvation of the population.

On Tuesday, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas posted on X that “all options remain on the table if Israel doesn’t deliver on its pledges” to increase the number of aid trucks, crossing points and routes to distribution points.

“The killing of civilians seeking aid in Gaza is indefensible. I spoke again with [Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar] to recall our understanding on aid flow and made clear that IDF must stop killing people at distribution points,” said Kallas.

Civilians cannot be targets. Never.

The images from Gaza are unbearable.

The EU reiterates its call for the free, safe and swift flow of humanitarian aid.

And for the full respect of international and humanitarian law.

Civilians in Gaza have suffered too much, for too long.… https://t.co/VhaKxUXka0

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 22, 2025

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also posted on X on Tuesday, declaring that “Civilians cannot be targets. Never. The images from Gaza are unbearable.”

Von der Leyen added: “The EU reiterates its call for the free, safe and swift flow of humanitarian aid. And for the full respect of international and humanitarian law. Civilians in Gaza have suffered too much, for too long. It must stop now. Israel must deliver on its pledges.”

Image Credits: UNRWA.