The World Health Organization is warning Gaza is suffering from man-made mass starvation caused by Israel’s blockade. The WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke on Wednesday.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “As you know, mass starvation means starvation of a large proportion of a population. And a large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving. I don’t know what you would call it, other than mass starvation. And it’s man-made, and that’s very clear. And this is because of blockade, and, I have said it in my statement, more than 80 days of blockade straight. And then, of course, there is opening now, but it’s not enough. It’s just a trickle, and people are starving.”

Health officials in Gaza say at least 113 Palestinians have starved to death, including 45 over the past four days. Gaza officials say a half-million bags of flour are needed each week to “avoid a comprehensive humanitarian collapse.” Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and Oxfam issued a statement saying their staff and the people they serve in Gaza are “wasting away.”

The BBC, Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse have called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza. In a statement, the news outlets said, “We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families. For many months, these independent journalists have been the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering.”

Doctors and medical staff in Gaza told The Guardian that the lack of food has left them weak and depleted their physical health, making it difficult to provide urgent medical care for their suffering patients.

In Khan Younis, one mother, Najah Barbakh, talked about the plight of her malnourished daughter.

Najah Barbakh: “Since I delivered her, she has been small, and she doesn’t grow up. Her condition gets worse in the hospital. And every time I go home, I find her becoming more and more weak. Her nerves are weak, and she doesn’t sit properly. Babies like her, in her age of 11 months, should sit up straight. She should be 11 or 10 kilograms minimum. My daughter can’t sit straight or play with her siblings. She stays lying on her back, and that’s all.”