WHO chief warns of imminent famine in Northern Gaza, calls for urgent humanitarian aid

The WHO chief warned Saturday about the escalating crisis 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 Strip."

"We call for an immediate scale-up and safe access for humanitarian aid — primarily food and medicines for severe malnutrition — within days not weeks."

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023.

The Israeli onslaught has killed 43,550 Palestinians and injured 102,700 others, displacing almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to halt the war.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.