Palestinians in Gaza are suffering a “man-made” mass starvation caused by the aid blockade imposed by Israel, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

Ghebreyesus spoke following an appeal signed by over 100 aid agencies, including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam International and Amnesty International, saying that Israel is blocking the distribution of food, clean water and medical supplies in Gaza.

“Just outside Gaza, in warehouses – and even within Gaza itself – tonnes of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them,” the letter reads. “The government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death.”

In their letter, the humanitarian organisations called for more direct action. “Piecemeal arrangements and symbolic gestures, like airdrops or flawed aid deals, serve as a smokescreen for inaction. They cannot replace states’ legal and moral obligations to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure meaningful access at scale,” they wrote.

Speaking at a virtual press conference from Geneva, the WHO Director-General said: “Mass starvation means starvation of a large portion of the population. And a large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving. I don’t know what you’d call it other than mass starvation. And it is man-made, and that’s very clear.”

“This is because of (the) blockade,” Ghebreyesus said. “And then of course there is an opening now, but it’s not enough. It is just a trickle and people are starving.”

“I don’t know why we’re even splitting hairs here,” Ghebreyesus added, clarifying his position after one of his colleagues expressed reservations about using the term “mass starvation” at an earlier briefing.

According to reports, an increasing number of Palestinians in Gaza are dying because of starvation. At least 10 people have died from hunger in the last 24 hours, bringing the starvation death toll up to 111, including 80 children. In July alone, over 5,100 children have been admitted to malnutrition programmes, according to Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative for the occupied Palestinian territories.

Food in Gaza is currently distributed by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). UN officials have described the GHF sites as “death traps”, as over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to reach the food distribution points since the end of May.

Many avoid the sites in fear that something might happen to them, leading to further hunger. The GHF has been widely condemned by humanitarian organisations for its violations of aid principles and potential complicity in the war crime of weaponising starvation.

As starvation continues to spread, Israeli strikes continue to kill civilians in Gaza. According to an analysis of UN data, Israel has killed one person every 12 minutes in July, making it one of the deadliest months since the military campaign escalated in October 2023. Since then, more than 59,000 people have been killed in Gaza, as the death toll continues to rise.