UN confirms famine in Gaza as some parents pray for children’s deaths to end suffering
By isabelle // 2025-07-29
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  • Gaza faces a man-made famine with over two million Palestinians suffering starvation, malnutrition, and disease under Israeli blockade and bombardment.
  • The UN confirms famine conditions, with children dying from starvation and parents pleading for death to end their suffering.
  • Israeli forces obstruct aid, attack civilians seeking food, and deny the famine's existence despite overwhelming evidence.
  • Global leaders fail to act decisively, offering minimal aid while refusing to pressure Israel for a ceasefire or full humanitarian access.
  • This crisis, described as the "worst crime of the 21st century," demands urgent intervention before more lives are lost.
The world is witnessing one of the most horrific humanitarian crises of the 21st century unfold in Gaza, where more than two million Palestinians now face a man-made famine of unprecedented brutality. According to the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Gaza has officially reached famine thresholds, with starvation, malnutrition, and disease ravaging a population trapped under relentless siege and bombardment. Children collapse in the streets, parents pray for death to spare their families further agony, and basic survival has become a luxury—all while the international community watches in silence.

A deliberate famine unfolds

Gaza’s famine is not an accident. It is the direct result of a near-total blockade on food, water, and medical aid imposed by Israeli authorities, compounded by the destruction of infrastructure and targeted attacks on civilians seeking sustenance. The IPC reports that two of three famine indicators—plummeting food consumption and acute malnutrition—have been breached, with mounting evidence of starvation-related deaths completing the grim picture. "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," the IPC stated in its latest alert. The UN World Food Programme’s Ross Smith called it "a disaster unfolding in front of our eyes," adding, "This is not a warning, this is a call to action." Yet the call goes unanswered. Since late May, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to access food aid, according to UN figures. Areas once deemed "safe" have become death traps, with Israeli forces reportedly targeting starving civilians. Former UN aid chief Martin Griffiths condemned the crisis as "the worst crime of the 21st century."

Children wasting away

The most harrowing victims are Gaza’s children. More than 20,000 have been treated for acute malnutrition since April, with at least 16 children under five confirmed dead from starvation in July alone. Infants like Yahya al-Najjar, just months old, have succumbed to emaciation, their tiny bodies reduced to skeletal frames. Parents, unable to feed their families, are driven to unthinkable despair. "I saw a mother praying for her children to die, simply because she could no longer feed them," reported Ahmed Aziz for Middle East Eye. "Some mothers sit at the entrances of their tents, tears falling, whispering broken prayers: 'Oh God, please take them... relieve them of this suffering.'" Markets stand empty. A kilogram of flour now costs $30; sugar costs $130. Families subsist on "invented meals"—lentils mixed with pasta, rice cooked over open fires, or boiled water masquerading as soup. "We eat, then feel hungry again an hour later," Aziz wrote.

A world complicit in silence

The famine’s severity is exacerbated by Israel’s near-total shutdown of aid crossings since March. Despite hollow promises of "tactical pauses," only a trickle of aid enters Gaza, while shipments are routinely obstructed or looted. The UN estimates 90% of Gaza’s population is displaced, with safe zones reduced to less than 12% of the territory. Hospitals, overwhelmed and under-resourced, report surging malnutrition cases with no medicines to treat them. Meanwhile, global leaders dither. While the IPC demands an "immediate ceasefire" and "unimpeded humanitarian access," political posturing continues. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flatly denies starvation exists in Gaza, even as his government blocks lifesaving aid. The U.S. and European nations offer token airdrops—"a drop of water in the ocean," as Spain’s foreign minister admitted—while refusing to enforce meaningful pressure on Israel. Gaza’s famine is a crime against humanity, meticulously engineered through siege and indifference. The world has the means to stop it by flooding the Strip with aid, demanding a ceasefire, and holding perpetrators accountable, but it lacks the moral courage. As children perish and parents beg for mercy, history will judge not only the architects of this horror but those who stood by and let it happen. Sources for this article include: MiddleEastEye.net MiddleEastMonitor.com News.UN.org Edition.CNN.com
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