The situation in Gaza is catastrophic, with the worst-case scenario of famine now officially declared and Israel using starvation as a method of war “in its starkest terms”, speakers warned the Security Council today, among them the head of Save the Children International, who implored, Gaza’s “children have reached their breaking point. Where is yours?”
“Today the world looks on in horror as the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory continues to deteriorate to levels not seen in recent history,” said Ramiz Alakbarov, United Nations Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.
Twenty-two months into the hostilities, Gaza faces “rapidly mounting civilian casualties, mass displacement, and, now, famine”, he said. Moreover, hostages remain in “appalling conditions”, while the West Bank is gripped by “relentless expansion of settlements, demolitions, and intensifying violence”.
Since 23 July, “at least 2,553 Palestinians were killed,” including 271 while trying to collect aid. Journalists are also under assault; 240 have been killed, including six during a 10 August strike. And on 25 August, an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital killed 20 civilians. “I reiterate the Secretary-General’s call for an independent and impartial investigation,” Mr. Alakbarov stressed.
“Ending famine is a race against time,” requiring restoration of “water, sanitation, health services, and food production”, he continued. Israeli steps such as limited pauses and expanded supply approvals are “nowhere near sufficient”, he said, adding: “All parties must allow rapid, safe, unimpeded, and large-scale delivery of humanitarian aid”.
On hostages, he said that 50 remain in captivity and their ill-treatment and abuse constitute a blatant violation of international law. Turning to the West Bank, he said that Government approvals for 3,400 housing units threaten the possibility of a viable and contiguous Palestinian State.
Over 500,000 People in Gaza Face Starvation, Destitution, Death
“On 22 August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Famine Review Committee confirmed that famine is now occurring in Gaza,” Joyce Msuya, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, told the Council.
Over half a million people currently face starvation, destitution and death,” with projections of 640,000 within weeks, she added. At least 132,000 children under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition, with over 43,000 at risk of death. For pregnant and breastfeeding women, numbers are surging from 17,000 to 55,000.
“It’s a created catastrophe,” she went on, citing 22 months of restricted aid, destroyed cropland and decimated livestock. Overcrowding and collapsed water and sanitation systems have also “turned menstrual hygiene into a nightmare for women and girls”.
International law, she reminded, “prohibits the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”. Turning to the West Bank, she echoed Mr. Alakbarov’s warning that “settler violence, and discriminatory policies” threaten 18 Bedouin communities with displacement.
Emaciated Children in Gaza Clinics Lack Strength to Even Speak
“As we speak children in Gaza are systematically being starved to death,” said Inger Ashing, Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children International. The Gaza famine is a deliberate policy — engineered and manmade — in which Israel is using “starvation as a method of war in its starkest terms”.
Clinics are “almost silent now”, filled with emaciated children who “do not have the strength to speak or even cry out in agony”, she said. Supplies lie blocked at the border — “thousands upon thousands of truckloads of lifesaving items”. Increasingly, children “wish for food, for bread”, and some wish “to be dead”, with one child writing: “I wish I was in heaven where my mother is, in heaven there is love, there is food and water”.
Ms. Ashing stressed that famine is “the predictable result of a policy of a sustained siege on food, medicine and fuel”, echoing Ms. Msuya’s assessment that at least 132,000 children under five are at risk of acute malnutrition — twice the number in May 2025. “This is the predictable result of obstruction”, as non-governmental organizations face rejected requests and new registration rules that are “unlawful, unsafe, and incompatible with humanitarian principles”. Gazan families are also now calling militarized food distribution points “the jaws of death”, she said.
“Palestinian children are the only ones in the world systematically prosecuted in military courts,” she pointed out. They report abuse and starvation while in custody. For almost two years, the international community has failed to protect Palestinian children — who are now at their breaking point. “Where is yours?” she asked Council members.
Released Hostage Recounts Abuse in Captivity
Ilana Gritzewsky, held in captivity in Gaza for 55 days, spoke to the Council next, saying: “I was born in Mexico to a Jewish family deeply connected to Israel”. Ms. Gritzewsky had moved to Israel and lived with her partner, Matan, in Kibbutz Nir Oz. On 7 October 2023 “that life was destroyed” when “terrorists stormed our home; Matan held the door as we hid, but they broke in”.
“I was dragged away, beaten, humiliated, and taken to Gaza,” she recalled. For 55 days she endured captivity. “I suffered broken bones, constant abuse, starvation. We were given scraps of food while our captors ate full meals. We were moved from house to house, then to tunnels,” she told Council Members. There she discovered that Matan had also been captured.
Released after several weeks, Ms. Gritzewsky said she carries deep scars. “Trauma doesn’t vanish once you are released,” she added.
With Matan still in Gaza, she urged the Council: Use your power to demand the unconditional release of every hostage now. “Only then can we begin to heal and believe again in the values this Council was created to uphold,” she said.
...
