UNRWA warns of ‘manmade famine’ in Gaza, urges return to UN-led aid system

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Sunday warned that Gaza is facing a "manmade famine" and called for a return to the UN-led humanitarian aid system in the Palestinian enclave.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA's director of communications, said on US social media company X: "We are very, very close to losing our collective humanity."

Touma said the famine has been "largely shaped by the deliberate attempts to replace the UN-coordinated humanitarian system through the politically motivated 'GHF' [Gaza Humanitarian Foundation]."

She added that the alternative Israeli-American mechanism "brings dehumanization, chaos, and death."

"We must return to a unified, UN-led coordination and distribution system based on international humanitarian law," Touma said, stressing that "the abomination must end."

On Saturday, Gaza's Health Ministry reported that 11 more Palestinians, including a child, died from starvation, raising the death toll from hunger to 251, including 108 children, since Oct. 7, 2023.

The ministry said 26 Palestinians were killed and 175 injured while seeking aid, bringing the toll of those killed while searching for food and assistance to 1,924, with more than 14,288 wounded since May 27, when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operations.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing nearly 61,900 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombing has destroyed the enclave and led to a high risk of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.