500,000 Gazans face catastrophic hunger: UN

World Food Program said almost half a million Gazans including children are facing severe hunger

Almost half a million people in the Gaza Strip face catastrophic levels of hunger amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the enclave, the UN World Food Program (WFP) said on Monday.

“Due to unreliable access and limited stocks, families often don't receive the full rations and frequency they need,” WFP said in a statement.

Early on Monday, a six-year-old Palestinian boy died of severe malnutrition caused by Israel’s crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

Read: Global hunger monitor warns of severe famine risk in Gaza

Nearly 38,200 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 87,900 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.