This file photo shows Palestinian children waiting to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen amid shortages of food supplies, as the ongoing Israeli genocide continues, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on February 5, 2024. (via Reuters)

United Nations, March 18 (RHC)-- The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has warned that one-third of children under two years old in northern Gaza are acutely malnourished as famine looms amid Israel’s complete blockade of the coastal territory.

“One in 3 children under 2 years of age are now acutely malnourished in northern #Gaza,” UNRWA said in a post on X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.  Adding that “children’s malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza," the agency cautioned: “Famine is looming. There is no time to waste.”

In another X post on Sunday, the UN agency once again stressed that the Palestinian people in Gaza are on the verge of famine, calling for "safe, unimpeded & sustained access throughout the #GazaStrip" to get aid to those in need.

According to UNRWA, at least 23 children are reported to have died from malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza.  The UN agency’s warning came more than five months into the Israeli regime's brutal war of genocide on Gaza, which has left much of the territory in ruins and displaced most of its 2.3 million population.

The UN Population Fund said that the situation in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza is “beyond catastrophic.”

Israel launched its military aggression against Gaza on October 7, 2023 after the territory's resistance movements waged Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Since the start of its genocide, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 31,645 Palestinians and injured 73,676 others.

Israel has also imposed a complete siege on Gaza, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, medicine and water to more than two million Palestinians living there.  The UN has said time and again that its efforts to provide relief aid to the people of Gaza are faced with overwhelming obstacles created by Israel, including crossing closures, exhausting searches, and restrictions on movement of aid convoys.