Statement of the Bureau of the General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the InalIenable Rights of the Palestinian People

Statement

UN Palestinian Rights Committee Bureau Calls for Urgent Action to End Gaza Famine

New York, 27 August 2025 – A new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis officially confirmed famine in Gaza Governorate, with more than half a million people facing starvation, destitution, and preventable death. “The Gaza Famine”, as the UN Relief Chief called it, is only getting worse.

If nothing is done to end the Israeli blockade and to ensure immediate and unfettered humanitarian aid to the Palestinian civilian population, famine is projected to spread to Deir al‑Balah and Khan Younis in the coming weeks.

This catastrophic man-made disaster comes on the heels of two years of near total Israeli destruction and blockade of Gaza and relentless military assaults that have decimated civilian infrastructure, including food production capacities and all other means of subsistence.

The Bureau of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People condemns, in strongest terms, this deliberate use of deprivation and starvation by Israel, the occupying Power, as a weapon against the Palestinian people.

This is a grave breach of international law. States must act without delay to fulfil their legal obligations towards bringing a rapid end to this catastrophe and illegal situation as a whole.

This is not an abstract crisis. It is an intentionally engineered disaster. Infrastructure has been destroyed, aid is being blocked or manipulated, and children are dying from lack of therapeutic food and fortified milk.

By 15 August, 240 Palestinian deaths were reported attributed to starvation, malnutrition or famine, including 107 children and 133 adults. Over 70,000 children urgently need therapeutic food, yet only a tiny fraction are receiving it. More rare preventable diseases are now spreading in Gaza due to starvation and lack of medical supplies.

The Committee Bureau demands an immediate and permanent ceasefire, full and unhindered humanitarian access to all parts of Gaza, and the rapid mobilization of international resources for food, nutrition, and medical care for the Palestinian civilian population.

Those responsible for obstructing aid and targeting civilians must be held accountable. Every day of inaction is a day of terror which deepens the suffering and survival of the Palestinian people and pushes Gaza further into utter annihilation.

There is no justification for inaction. The international community has a legal and moral obligation to intervene.

The Bureau reiterates the need for prompt ICJ action, as requested by the General Assembly on 19 December 2024, to urgently deliver an Advisory Opinion on the humanitarian obligations of Israel, the occupying power, to avert further Palestinian suffering. The deliberate starvation of a population is a crime that must be stopped now.

SOURCE

UN PALESTINIAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE BUREAU