ANKARA

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Friday raised alarm over rising hunger levels in the Gaza Strip.

“In Gaza, starvation is increasing. People are fainting in the streets from hunger,” the agency said in a statement on X. “The current aid distribution system has humiliated and dehumanized hungry and scared, injured and exhausted families.”

UNRWA emphasized that “no person, anywhere, should be forced to choose between risking their life and feeding their family.”

The agency also recalled its ability to deliver effective humanitarian relief when given access.

“During the ceasefire, the UN, including UNRWA, proved it can deliver life-saving assistance safely and at scale across the Gaza Strip,” it said.

UNRWA called on all parties to allow immediate humanitarian access. “We have the systems, the expertise, and the will. What we need is access. Lift the siege. Let us do our job.”

Several human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accused Israel of continuing to use starvation as a weapon of war against civilians in the Gaza Strip as part of a broader effort to “inflict genocide” on Palestinians.

Despite international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a genocidal war on Gaza, killing more than 57,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since October 2023.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for 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.