On Friday, Save the Children said that families in Gaza are forced to scavenge for scraps of food left by rats and eat leaves to try to survive after nearly five months of war.
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The 1.1 million children living in the territory now face death from starvation and disease because it is impossible to deliver aid safely, the non-governmental organization said in a statement.
The group quoted a humanitarian worker currently in the southern city of Rafah as saying.
My husband told me that in the north of the enclave people resorted to eating animal feed and tree leaves out of desperation, even being forced to scavenge for scraps in garbage and leftovers contaminated by rats, the source stressed.
Save the Children stressed that continued fighting, Israeli shelling and insecurity are preventing the safe delivery of aid, a situation that is worsening in the northern region.
According to the UN, from January 1 to February 15, Israeli forces prevented more than 50 percent of aid delivery and assessment missions to areas north of Wadi Gaza, where famine levels are highest, it stressed. "Any use of starvation as a method of warfare is strictly prohibited by international law and will have deadly consequences for children," it reminded.
The NGO noted that this week the World Food Program halted aid deliveries to northern Gaza due to security concerns.
It also cited a report by the Global Nutrition Group, according to which more than 90 percent of children under the age of two and pregnant and lactating women face severe food poverty.
"Given that limited access to aid makes any meaningful and necessary humanitarian response impossible, it is more than likely that the situation has deteriorated dramatically since this data was collected," Save the Children warned.
This is a mass starvation of an entire village - how can anyone live like this," asked Jason Lee, the group's country director in the Palestinian territories.