The deepening famine ravaging Gaza is not a tragic side‑effect of war but a consequence of deliberate Israeli policy that sidelines UN agencies and replaces critical aid infrastructure with politically motivated alternatives.

UNRWA’s Commissioner‑General, Philippe Lazzarini, has placed clear responsibility for the escalating hunger crisis on the Israeli occupation. He condemned the enforced sidelining of the UN’s humanitarian apparatus in favour of the Israeli‑promoted “Humanitarian Gaza” framework. According to Lazzarini, this model lacks independence and has accelerated the collapse of essential aid delivery.

For over five months, UNRWA has been banned from entering Gaza to distribute relief. This ban, Lazzarini argues, is not rooted in credible accusations of aid diversion to armed groups, rather it is part of a broader strategy of collective punishment against Gazans simply for living under occupation.

The consequences are already deadly. Palestinian health authorities report that seven more people have died of starvation or malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including a child, bringing the famine‑related death toll across the territory to 169, among them 93 children.

From the heart of Gaza, survivors speak of dwindling supplies, families torn apart by hunger, and an international system undermined at the very moment it is most needed. Journalists and aid workers in Gaza warn that unless UNRWA and impartial UN operations are fully restored, the humanitarian condition will not only persist, it will worsen.

The famine unfolding is not an accidental calamity. Many Palestinians see it as a calculated policy of disempowerment, carried out under the guise of aid reform yet driven by power and control.