GazaHerald – The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, has issued a searing condemnation of the international community’s failure to stop what he called Israel’s “genocidal starvation campaign” in Gaza, declaring that “the UN died in Gaza” when Palestinian children began dying of hunger.
Speaking before a UN General Assembly committee in New York, Fakhri said two children, two-month-old Mahmoud Fattouh and 10-year-old Yazan al-Kafarneh, were the first to die of starvation in February and March last year, marking “the moment the UN failed its mission.”
“These were the first children reportedly killed by malnutrition, dehydration, and hunger during Israel’s recent starvation campaign in Gaza,” Fakhri told delegates.
“When a parent helplessly holds their starving child in their arms, looking into their child’s eyes as they die from hunger, it shows that an entire society is under attack and famine is taking hold. Every time a child dies from hunger, dehydration, or malnutrition, the world slips further into the abyss.”
Fakhri accused Israel of conducting “the fastest starvation campaign in modern history,” saying its actions amounted to genocide. “You have listened to Israel announce its genocidal intentions and witnessed its genocidal actions. Even with this current ceasefire, Israel’s starvation campaign continues. Israel’s genocide, occupation, and Nakba in Palestine have not ended,” he said.
The UN expert urged the General Assembly to authorize UN peacekeepers to escort humanitarian convoys into Gaza. “If peacekeepers are not used to stop starvation and genocide,” he asked, “then what else are we doing here?”
Jonathan Fuller, Director of Communications for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), echoed Fakhri’s alarm, warning that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza remains “catastrophic.” He said the ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is “only the first step” toward relief.
“Every day of delay in facilitating aid means more deaths from malnutrition and lack of basic necessities,” Fuller said. He emphasized that the priority now is to prevent worsening food shortages and the spread of disease before beginning efforts to rebuild shattered lives.
Over the past two years of what Fakhri described as “genocide,” systematic Israeli blockades and starvation have killed at least 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, through hunger and malnutrition.
On August 22, 2025, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) formally declared famine in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, confirming what aid agencies had long warned: Gaza is facing one of the worst humanitarian collapses in modern history.
