UNITED NATIONS(National Times)- Amid reports of increased Israeli military attacks across Gaza City on Friday, UN aid agencies repeated urgent warnings of ongoing famine and a likely rise in preventable disease, linked to the dire living conditions in the war-shattered enclave. “We are on a descent into a massive famine,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, “and we need massive amounts of food getting into the Strip and safely distribute it across the Gaza Strip”. Referring to the latest catastrophic assessment of food insecurity in Gaza from the UN-backed IPC group of experts, Laerke noted that 500,000 people are in the worst possible situation today, with another 160,000 expected to be added to that number in the coming weeks. “They all need food,” he told reporters in Geneva. “The entire Gaza Strip needs food. There would not have been declared famine had there been sufficient amounts of food.” Gaza’s Health Ministry has recorded five deaths “due to famine and malnutrition” in the past 24 hours, including two children, bringing the total number of hunger-related deaths to 322, including 121 children. At least 67 Palestinians, including children and aid seekers, have been killed since dawn on Friday in Israeli attacks across Gaza, including several in the al-Mawasi area -– a so-called “humanitarian zone” designated by Israel – in the south. The number of people killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, has now surpassed 63,000. In a related development, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted the growing risk of communicable diseases in Gaza, with 94 suspected cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome now reported. The disease can cause paralysis and is treatable in hospital with intravenous immunoglobulin or plasma exchange, according to WHO. “But these two [treatments] are at zero stock, as are anti-inflammatories,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, referencing ongoing Israeli aid restrictions impacting humanitarian relief supplies entering Gaza. “These deliveries must be urgently expedited as much as surveillance and testing capabilities.” Between 20 and 26 August, out of 89 attempts to coordinate relief missions with Israeli authorities across Gaza, 53 were facilitated, 23 were initially approved but then impeded on the ground, seven were denied and six had to be withdrawn by the organizers, OCHA said in an update.