GAZA CITY, Palestine / ANKARA 

The Gaza Strip has entered an advanced level of famine due to the ongoing Israeli closure of Gaza crossings and a ban on aid entry for two months, local authorities warned on Thursday.

"The Israeli occupation has imposed a suffocating siege and completely closed all crossings for over two months," Ismail Thawabteh, the Gaza government's media office director, told Anadolu.

He added that Israel continues to prevent "the entry of food supplies and humanitarian aid into Gaza, effectively plunging the Strip into an advanced stage of famine; one of the most horrific cases of systematic starvation witnessed in the modern world."

Thawabteh stressed that Israel is solely and directly responsible for this humanitarian catastrophe, as it is using food, medicine, and water as a weapon against over 2.4 million civilians.

He called for "an immediate and decisive international intervention" to allow unrestricted entry of aid and "save what remains of life in Gaza before it’s too late."

Israel has closed Gaza’s border crossings to food, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid since March 2, triggering a deepening humanitarian disaster, according to reports from government bodies, human rights groups, and international agencies.

The Israeli army renewed its assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

More than 52,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.