As Gaza enters its seventh week of total border closures, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has issued a dire warning: the Strip is teetering on the edge of famine. With Israel maintaining a complete blockade since March 2, the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods, and life-saving supplies has come to a near standstill, plunging over two million Palestinians deeper into desperation.

UNRWA’s Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, underscored the urgency of the crisis, stating that essential goods are now critically scarce. "Infants and children are going to sleep hungry," she said, pointing to skyrocketing food prices and empty shelves in local markets. The situation has grown so dire that families are left to survive on leaves and animal feed—if they can find even that.

With bakeries shuttered and flour among the many banned goods, hunger has become a daily torment. Medical supplies are equally out of reach, compounding the suffering of the sick and injured in a territory already ravaged by relentless bombardment and displacement. International organisations have echoed UNRWA’s alarm, warning that a full-scale famine is no longer a risk, but an imminent reality.

Despite growing calls for a ceasefire and the urgent lifting of the siege, the blockade remains firmly in place. As the world watches, Gaza stands on the verge of a preventable catastrophe—one that reflects not only the cruelty of the blockade, but the silence of a global community slow to intervene.