The WHO chief has warned about Israel's war in northern Gaza, noting that a famine is imminent there.
“Deeply alarming,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, referring to new findings from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
The data, he noted, indicates that "there is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas within the northern Gaza."
“We call for an immediate scale-up and safe access for humanitarian aid — primarily food and medicines for severe malnutrition — within days not weeks.”
The WHO claims are substantiated by warnings from the ground.
The situation in northern Gaza is “catastrophic” as the Israeli blockade on humanitarian needs caused starvation among people, warned the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, one of the few remaining medical centres serving the area.
“The situation in northern Gaza is catastrophic. The blockade persists, and starvation signs are appearing in children and adults due to the lack of essential resources for life,” Hussam Abu Safiya said in a video statement to journalists on Saturday.
The continuous Israeli bombardment has left northern Gaza in a state of “genuine annihilation,” he stressed.
Food insecurity
According to the UN-backed assessment, famine is looming in northern Gaza amid Israel's war and a near-halt in food aid.
The alert from the Famine Review Committee warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza."
"Famine thresholds may have already been crossed," said the alert.
On October 17, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophic" food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000, or 16 percent of the population.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report classified that as IPC Phase 5, when "starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."
Collapse of food systems
Since that report, conditions have worsened in the north of Gaza, with a collapse of food systems, a drop in humanitarian aid and critical water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, the committee said.
"It can therefore be assumed that starvation, malnutrition, and excess mortality due to malnutrition and disease are rapidly increasing in these areas," the report read.
Aid shipments allowed to enter Gaza were now lower than at any time since October 2023, said the report.
Access to food continues to deteriorate, with prices of essentials on the black market soaring.
Cooking gas rose by 2,612 percent, diesel by 1,315 percent and wood by 250 percent, it said.
"Concurrent with the extremely high and increasing prices of essential items has been the total collapse of livelihoods to be able to purchase or barter for food and other basic needs," said the alert.
The body expressed concern over Israel's cutting ties last month with the UN aid agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), warning of "extremely serious consequences for humanitarian operations" in Gaza.
