The Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative estimates famine is affecting 500,000 people in Gaza

Malnutrition rates are reaching "alarming levels" in the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization warned Sunday, saying the "deliberate blocking" of aid was entirely preventable and had cost many lives.

At the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip, hundreds of aid trucks sat unmoving in the Egyptian desert, stuck for days with only a handful allowed through by Israel to relieve the humanitarian disaster across the border.

Severely malnourished children in the Gaza Strip will be "certainly condemned to death" unless aid gets to them quickly, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned Thursday.