The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has issued a stern warning about the Israel-induced worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA confirmed that nearly one million women and girls are at risk of mass starvation, amid Israel’s continued policy of blockade and starvation since the start of its latest assault on the Strip.
Israel committing systematic starvation
UNRWA said in a tweet on its X account that women and girls bear the brunt of this war, as they lack food, medicine, and safe shelter:
Hunger is spreading fast in #Gaza.
According to @UN_Women:
One million women and girls are facing mass starvation, violence, and abuse
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 16, 2025
It stressed that the situation is no longer limited to a “humanitarian crisis,” but has turned into systematic starvation targeting the entire community, exposing the most vulnerable groups to a slow death.
These warnings come at a time when humanitarian aid and adequate food supplies continue to be blocked, along with the destruction of large areas of agricultural land and warehouses, which the agency described as a “war of starvation” being waged against civilians.
UNRWA noted that mothers are forced to reduce their meals in order to provide a small bite to eat for their children, while pregnant and lactating women suffer from severe malnutrition that threatens both their lives and those of their children.
According to UN estimates, more than 2.3 million people in Gaza suffer from food insecurity, nearly half of whom are women and girls, which threatens a complete collapse of the social and health fabric in the Strip if urgent action is not taken.
UNRWA: urgent call for international action
UNRWA and other organizations have repeatedly emphasized that preventing food and medicine from reaching civilians is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, and have called on the international community to exert immediate pressure to open humanitarian corridors and ensure the delivery of essential supplies.
The agency said: “The world cannot stand by and watch as a million women and girls are left to face starvation and slow death.”
While the occupation’s war continues to claim lives through bombardment, deadly hunger may be the next silent killer, especially for the most vulnerable groups of women and children.
In Gaza, bread and medicine have become weapons of war, and the victims are women and girls trapped between hunger and death.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
This post was originally published on Canary.