Palestinian dignitaries and clans in Gaza issued an urgent appeal on Saturday to the world and US President Donald Trump to halt the ongoing Israeli genocide in the besieged Strip.

In a statement, they stressed that the Gaza Strip is experiencing a "state of complete famine" due to the ongoing Israeli blockade and the closure of crossings to the entry of aid and goods since March 2.

Earlier on Saturday, the government media office in Gaza announced that the death toll from Israel's starvation policy had risen to 57 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, warning of a further increase due to Tel Aviv's closure of the crossings and its prevention of the entry of relief aid for two months.

The dignitaries and clans said, "We are urgently appealing to the world that the Gaza Strip is experiencing a real famine, as the Israeli occupation uses starvation as a weapon against civilians."

The statement added: "The people of Gaza have no access to clean drinking water, food, or aid. Thousands of families are living in catastrophic and unprecedented humanitarian conditions."

He continued, "We are dying of hunger. Children and the sick are threatened with death every day, as the occupation uses the blockade as a destructive weapon against the people of the Gaza Strip, amid shameful international silence."

The dignitaries and clans in Gaza called for "the immediate opening of the crossings and the permission for the entry of humanitarian aid."

They called on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to intervene "urgently" to open the Rafah crossing and save lives, stressing that the continued closure of the crossings "deepens the humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza.

They also called on the US president to "correct Washington's sin and restore its humanity" by pressuring Israel to halt the genocide in Gaza. They also called on the free people of the world to "take urgent action and pressure to open the crossings."

In early March 2025, the first phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel, which had been in effect since January 19, 2025, concluded. However, Israel reneged on the agreement and resumed its genocide on the 18th of the same month.

Since March 2, Israel has closed the Gaza Strip's crossings to the entry of food, relief, medical aid, and goods, causing a significant deterioration in the humanitarian situation for Palestinians, according to government, human rights, and international reports.

Palestinians in Gaza are entirely dependent on such aid after Israel's ongoing genocide over the past 19 months rendered them impoverished, according to World Bank data.

Since October 7, 2023, with full American support, Israel has been committing systematic genocide in the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 170,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.