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THE United Nations has warned that hunger across the Gaza Strip remains widespread and critical despite on going humanitarian assistance, with millions of Palestinians still struggling to secure sufficient food amid continuing conflict and restrictions.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, citing figures from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said approximately 2.1 million people in Gaza are now confined to areas covering less than half of the territory, sharply limiting access to farmland, food supplies and essential services.
“People are unable to access several areas in Gaza that contain land reserves and critical facilities such as solid waste disposal sites.
“They are also unable to leave for abroad or enter the West Bank, where services such as specialised healthcare are available,” Anadolu Ajansı reported him saying on Wednesday.
Dujarric said only a small fraction of patients requiring urgent treatment unavailable in Gaza were being permitted to leave through medical evacuation arrangements.
Quoting the World Food Programme (WFP), he said more than 1.6 million residents currently receive monthly assistance through food parcels, hot meals, bread distributions or cash support schemes.
Humanitarian organisations are also providing around 1.1 million meals daily through more than 120 community kitchens operating across Gaza.
However, Dujarric stressed that the humanitarian catastrophe remained acute more than six months after the announcement of a ceasefire agreement.
“More than six months after the ceasefire announcement, WFP has informed us that the hunger crisis is still not over, with malnutrition rates remaining high.
“Many families still depend on food aid to survive because fresh food prices are far too expensive. One in five families eats only once a day,” he said.
The UN official acknowledged growing frustration over the limited international response despite repeated warnings from humanitarian agencies regarding deteriorating conditions in Gaza.
Responding to a question from Anadolu Agency on whether appeals for increased humanitarian access were being heard by relevant parties, Dujarric said the organisation continued raising the issue daily with both Israeli and American officials but admitted progress remained minimal.
“We hope there are people besides you listening to us. We raise this issue every day with the Israeli authorities. We also raise it with the Americans.
“The reality is that not much positive progress is happening.
“We do not control this system. We know the real situation on the ground because our partners witness it directly and understand what is needed, yet the assistance required is still not reaching people,” he said.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in October 2023 following the outbreak of war, with Palestinian health authorities reporting that more than 72,000 Palestinians have since been killed and over 172,000 injured, the majority of them women and children.
Although a ceasefire agreement came into force on October 10 last year, Israeli military operations and restrictions on Gaza have continued, with Palestinian officials reporting a further 837 deaths and 2,381 injuries since then, alongside extensive destruction across the territory. - May 7, 2026
