With barely a morsel left to distribute, the United Nations World Food Programme confirmed this week that its food reserves in Gaza have run dry, leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing starvation. For months, families have survived on dwindling rations, but now, even that thread of hope has been severed.

Gaza’s isolation, enforced by the complete closure of its crossings, has turned daily survival into an impossible task. Kerem Shalom, the principal gateway for humanitarian relief, remains sealed. Aid convoys, parked in the scorching heat for days, are being denied entry as Palestinians grow weaker with each passing hour.

What was once a humanitarian emergency is now morphing into a man-made famine. “We simply have nothing left to give,” said a spokesperson from the WFP. The agency had been supporting over 700,000 people a day. That support has now come to a halt.

In Rafah, Khan Younis, and the northern reaches of the Strip, children are sleeping hungry. Parents scavenge for scraps amid rubble. The temporary ceasefire that once allowed a trickle of aid is a distant memory. Today, Gaza is starving not because food is unavailable—but because it is being withheld.

International pressure is mounting. Several governments and UN bodies have urged Israel to lift the blockade, warning that obstructing food supplies to civilians may constitute a breach of international law. But the calls have so far fallen on deaf ears.

For Palestinians in Gaza, this is not merely a crisis. It is a deliberate act of deprivation—a slow, punishing siege that weaponises hunger. And the world is watching.