New York, 5 April 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Without additional aid deliveries, UN Secretary-General António Guterres believes the Gaza Strip is facing a catastrophic hunger crisis

"Children in Gaza today are dying for lack of food and water," said Guterres on Friday in New York. "This is incomprehensible, and entirely avoidable."

"When the door to aid is closed, the door to starvation opens."

"More than half the population – over a million people – are facing catastrophic hunger," he said. "Nothing can justify collective punishment for the Palestinians," Guterres continued.

According to international experts, famine, the worst form of a hunger crisis, is looming, especially in northern Gaza. Guterres was rather cautious about the steps recently announced by Israel to allow more aid deliveries. He hoped that the announcements would be implemented quickly as people in Gaza are desperate.

He called for a real shift in delivering essential aid due to the catastrophic conditions.

Photo: MIA Archive