According to the United Nations, people are facing “the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded”.

(CNN) — According to UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths, famine is “just around the corner” as people in Gaza face “the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded”.

In a statement issued on Friday, Griffiths said Gaza had become “a place of death and despair”, citing thousands of deaths and attacks on medical facilities and dysfunctional hospitals.

“Hope has never been more elusive,” he said.

A public health disaster is looming as infectious diseases spread in overcrowded shelters and sewers overflow, Griffiths said, adding that about 180 Palestinian women “are giving birth every day in the midst of this chaos.”

“Gaza is simply no longer worth living. Its people see their very existence threatened daily, while the world watches,” Griffiths said in a statement released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

According to the Hamas-run health ministry, thousands of Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its war against Hamas in Gaza, and according to the United Nations, 1.9 million people have been displaced since the beginning of the war. for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA). Israel launched the war on October 7 in response to a deadly attack by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostage.

“Meanwhile, rocket attacks on Israel continue, more than 120 people are being held hostage in Gaza, tensions are rising in the West Bank and the threat of a regional expansion of the war feels dangerously close,” he said. ‘ Griffiths, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

According to UNICEF, young children are at increased risk of severe malnutrition as famine conditions worsen. Survivors who spoke to CNN from the southern city of Rafah said basic necessities such as fruits and vegetables had become inaccessible.

Griffiths urged the parties to “fulfill all their obligations under international law, including to protect civilians and meet their essential needs, and to immediately release all hostages,” adding that the international community should ” “We must use all our influence to do this.”

He said, “We demand an immediate end to the war, not only for the sake of the people of Gaza and their threatened neighbors, but also for the sake of future generations who will endure these 90 days of hell and the most basic principles of humanity.” Will never forget the attacks.” ,

“This war should never have started,” Griffith said. “It’s time for this to end.”