Palestinians now search sand for legumes or rice, as UN said Gaza is on the brink of famine
Published: 05 Aug 2025 - 10:16 pm | Last Updated: 05 Aug 2025 - 10:44 pm
A Palestinian woman searches the sand for legumes or rice in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip during an airdrop mission on August 5, 2025. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)
New York: Notwithstanding the daily tactical pause in fighting that Israel has declared recently to facilitate the passage of humanitarian convoys, the quality of aid that entered the Gaza Strip is still inadequate to aid starving Gazans, with UN trucks facing restrictions that hamper aid delivery, the United Nations has reported.
It affirmed that the shortage of supplies is not merely confined to food, as there is a sore need for fuel for the humanitarian operations to persist, including the operation of relief trucks.
Approximately 200,000 liters of fuel have been collected from the Kerem Abu Salem crossing, but the limited quantity that entered Gaza throughout the past week is not enough, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN highlighted.
Palestinian women search the sand for legumes or rice in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip during an airdrop mission on August 5, 2025. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)
At a press conference held by United Nations agencies in Geneva, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke underscored that the humanitarian needs inside Gaza are immense, necessitating the entry of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of trucks, not only daily, not only weekly, but for months and possibly years to come.
He emphasized that Gaza is on the brink of famine. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), at least 600 trucks are needed daily to meet the basic humanitarian needs of more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) confirmed that malnutrition among children in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels, with severe acute malnutrition spreading at a pace that exceeds the capacity of aid to reach them. It stated that the number of children who died of starvation is surging.
A malnourished Palestinian girl Mariam Dawwas sits on the floor with her mother in the Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza City on August 2, 2025. (Photo by Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)
UNICEF warns that the vast majority of severely malnourished children will die at the end of the day due to other causes, as children suffering from malnutrition are ten times more susceptible to contracting pneumonia, measles, or other fatal diseases.
Most of these deaths go unreported because the majority of malnourished children cannot even reach hospitals.
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder stressed that it is very important for numerous governments to step up pressures in light of the deprivation and nutrition situation engulfing children, mothers, and the elderly.
