UNRWA Chief Warns of Gaza Famine

Famine in the Gaza Strip can be averted if vital aid is allowed into the besieged territory, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said, more than four months into the Israel-Hamas war.

"This is a man-made disaster," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said of the dire humanitarian conditions in war-battered Gaza.

"The world is committed to never let famine happen again," he said.

"Famine can still be avoided through genuine political will to grant access and protection to meaningful assistance."

Aid agencies have increasingly voiced concern for ordinary Gazans caught up in Israel's military campaign against militant group Hamas which has ruled the coastal territory since 2007.

The UN has warned of looming famine threatening virtually everyone in Gaza, while the World Food Programme this week described "unprecedented levels of desperation".

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said the situation in the north of Gaza was "extremely critical", with concern also mounting about conditions in the south.

Authorities in the Hamas-ruled territory said in recent days a number of children have died from malnutrition.

The health ministry put the latest death toll from Israel's military offensive at 29,692 people, most of them women and children.

Hamas's attack on rural communities, towns, military posts and other sites in Israel near the Gaza border resulted in the deaths of some 1,160 people, mostly civilians.

Gazans have said they have had to resort to eating rotten corn and animal feed unfit for human consumption but even that is now running out.

Aid trucks come into Gaza from Egypt via the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom and Nitzana crossings, where checks are carried out.

COGAT, an Israeli defense ministry body governing civilian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, said 245 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were inspected and transferred to Gaza.