HAMILTON, Canada

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned Friday that the hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip has reached an unprecedented level, with humanitarian efforts crippled by access restrictions.

"The situation is worse than I've ever seen it before," said Carl Skau, WFP's deputy executive director, during a news conference at UN headquarters in New York after his fourth visit to Gaza.

Skau stressed that the "humanitarian needs have never been higher" and noted that the UN's "ability to respond and to assist has never been more constrained."

He said a recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report already found 500,000 people in Gaza were facing starvation and that the situation has only worsened.

"Now, malnutrition is surging," he said, adding: "90,000 children are now in urgent need of treatment for malnutrition. One in three people in Gaza go for days without eating."

He recounted meeting families surviving on soup made from "just a few lentils or a few pieces of pasta" and mothers trying to prevent their children from playing to conserve energy due to lack of food.

Highlighting the rising displacement, he said: "I meet families who have moved two or three times in the past 10 days; they've moved 20 or 30 times," adding that every move reduces their ability to survive.

Skau also stressed that WFP's ability to operate is severely hampered by long delays and fuel shortages.

"Our teams get stuck waiting for clearances and checkpoints, often spending between 15 and 20 hours straight in their armed vehicles trying to escort our convoys," he said.

Although the WFP was allowed to deliver aid via the Israeli-controlled Zikim border crossing into northern Gaza for the first time in several days, Skau warned that such progress is far from sufficient.

"It’s not going to be enough to turn the tide of hunger, that’s for sure," he stressed.

Emphasizing the need for a ceasefire, Skau said: "And I don't know how to express that in clear enough terms, but the ceasefire is urgent."