Some 345,000 Palestinians will face catastrophic hunger this winter in Gaza after aid deliveries declined, a UN assessment said, warning of the risk of famine across the territory.

"Commercial supplies are down. There is massive displacement, infrastructure is destroyed, agriculture has collapsed and people have no money," Arif Husain, chief economist at the UN World Food Programme, said yesterday.

The assessment, prepared by UN agencies and non-governmental organizations, noted that this number is compared to 133,000 people currently classified as suffering from "catastrophic food insecurity."

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report said that increased humanitarian assistance during the summer somewhat alleviated the suffering of Gazans, but in September, fewer commercial and humanitarian supplies entered Gaza than in March.

As a result, the number of people facing catastrophic food insecurity (IPC Phase 5) is expected to reach 345,000 people, equivalent to 16% of the population, between November 2024 and April 2025.

The report said the recent "sharp decline" in aid access "will significantly limit families' ability to feed themselves and access basic goods and services in the coming months, unless the situation changes."

“All of this is reflected in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification projections that the situation will deteriorate from November,” Hussein added.

It is estimated that about 60,000 cases of severe malnutrition are expected to be recorded among children between the ages of six months and four years between November and April.

“We must act now to reduce acute hunger and malnutrition,” said Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

She pointed out that "hostilities must stop immediately and the ability to deliver essential and basic food aid and agricultural inputs must be resumed on time for the winter cropping season to allow them to grow food."