“Hunger is present, and famine is looming in Gaza,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X on Saturday.
Four of five households in northern Gaza and half of displaced households in the south are going days and nights without eating, said Ghebreyesus.
“This is heartbreaking. This protracted conflict is blocking much-needed access to food and other life-saving humanitarian aid,” he added.
Ghebreyesus urged the international community for immediate improvement in food security via accelerated flows of aid into Gaza to stop the famine.
The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 has risen to 20,258, with 53,688 injuries, the Health Ministry in the blockaded enclave said on Saturday.
In a statement, the ministry added 201 more people were killed and 368 others injured over the past 24 hours.
Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.
