The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has issued a stark warning about the deteriorating hunger crisis in Gaza, attributing the situation to severe shortages, stringent access restrictions, and incidents of violent looting.

According to OCHA's latest daily report, humanitarian organizations in central Gaza have run out of supply stocks as of Sunday, with Israeli authorities blocking most aid requests at the Erez checkpoint. This has left large swathes of the population south of Gaza Valley with minimal access to crucial food supplies.

The report indicates that around 120,000 metric tons of food aid, sufficient to meet the needs of Gaza's population for more than three months, are currently stranded outside the region. This bottleneck severely limits the ability of humanitarian partners to distribute food parcels to the starving families.

Furthermore, over 50 community kitchens, which have been providing more than 200,000 meals daily in central and southern Gaza, are on the brink of closure due to lack of resources. The World Food Program (WFP) has noted that only five out of the 20 bakeries it supports in Gaza City remain operational, dependent on sporadic fuel deliveries from the south.

The fuel crisis extends beyond food production, severely impacting Gaza's health system. OCHA highlighted that the lack of fuel for generators is endangering patient lives, particularly in northern Gaza where Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia stands as the only partially functional medical facility amidst continuous attacks.

Efforts to aid northern Gaza have been repeatedly thwarted. Yesterday's attempted mission by the UN was rejected by Israeli authorities, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the area.

This dire situation underscores the urgent need for international intervention to secure humanitarian access and supply lines to prevent further suffering in Gaza. (ILKHA)