1.4 million Palestinians face acute food insecurity in Gaza as medicine shortages deepen

Around 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza face acute levels of food insecurity, while medicine shortages in the war-ravaged enclave have reached 47%, Palestinian officials warned on Monday.

Minister of Social Development Samah Hamad said 74,200 children need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition.

Hamad made the remarks during a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah to present the findings of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, alongside UN humanitarian officials.

“A relative improvement shown in the report does not mean the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has ended, but rather reflects the direct impact of continued humanitarian aid flows,” she said.

Hamad warned that any decline in aid access would return conditions to more dangerous levels.

“Palestinians in Gaza are not facing a temporary food shortage, but a systematic Israeli policy targeting the foundations of life through the blockade and restrictions on the entry of food, water and medicine,” she added.

The report showed that more than 212,000 people face a food emergency, while 24,600 pregnant and breastfeeding women need urgent nutritional interventions, Hamad said.

She stressed that the figures reflect the continued fragility of the humanitarian situation in Gaza despite limited improvement.

Conditional improvement

Ramesh Rajasingham, deputy emergency relief coordinator for the Middle East peace process and UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territory, said the report’s findings should be read in a balanced way.

The improvement was achieved only “because of continued humanitarian aid delivery”, not because conditions had recovered or basic means of life had been restored, he said.

Around 67% of Gaza’s population, nearly 1.4 million people, still live in IPC Phase 3 or above, while more than 200,000 face Phase 4, or emergency levels of food insecurity, he added.

Continued humanitarian aid is “essential” to preserve this limited improvement, Rajasingham said.

He called for crossings to be opened fully and sustainably, economic and commercial activity to resume, people to regain sources of income and early recovery programs to begin.

World Food Programme (WFP) representative and country director in Palestine, Shaun Hughes, said the report is an independent technical assessment prepared by more than 60 experts from over 20 institutions and based on the largest nutrition survey conducted in Gaza since the start of the Israeli war.

The relative improvement in indicators “should not be interpreted as the end of the crisis, but as a direct result of continued relief operations”, he said.

The WFP has reached around 75% of Gaza’s population each month since November through food assistance and cash transfers, Hughes said.

He warned that any decline in funding or aid volumes would lead to a rapid deterioration in food security indicators.

Medicine shortages

Separately, Gaza’s Health Ministry said the medicine shortage had reached 47%, while shortages in medical consumables reached 58% and shortages in laboratory testing materials rose to 85%.

The ministry warned that the shortages threaten a near-total halt of key diagnostic and life-saving treatment services.

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“Cancer and blood disease medicines top the list of shortages at 61%, putting the lives of cancer patients at certain risk of death due to the suspension of their treatment protocols,” it said.

Shortages also reached 56% in maternal and child health medicines, 55% in primary health care medicines, 46% in kidney and dialysis medicines and 35% in mental health and neurology medicines.

The ministry said shortages in emergency and intensive care medicines reached 33%, while surgical supplies recorded a 39% shortage and orthopaedic surgery supplies 47%.

The acute shortage of basic tests directly affects medical teams’ ability to save lives, including complete blood count tests, blood gas tests and clinical chemistry tests used daily to assess patients and wounded people in intensive care and operating rooms, it said.

The ministry called on the UN and humanitarian organisations to intervene immediately to allow the entry of medicines, medical consumables and laboratory testing materials.

Gaza’s health sector has been severely weakened by Israel’s genocide against Palestinians since Oct 8, 2023.

Israel has destroyed hospitals and health facilities and prevented the entry of medicines, medical supplies and fuel, severely reducing the ability of medical facilities to provide treatment, especially for cancer patients and people with chronic diseases.

Israel has killed more than 73,000 people and injured over 174,000 others in a brutal war in Gaza since October 2023.

Despite the ceasefire agreement in effect since Oct 10, 2025, Israel has continued its attacks across the enclave, killing 1,250 Palestinians and injuring 4,110 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.