Half of Gazans are experiencing “catastrophic” hunger, with famine projected to hit the north of the territory by May unless there is urgent intervention, a UN-backed food security assessment said on Monday.
“People in Gaza are starving to death right now. The speed at which this manmade hunger and malnutrition crisis has ripped through Gaza is terrifying,” World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain said.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership on Monday estimated that 1.1 million people — half the population, according to UN data — were facing catastrophic conditions.
Photo: AP
“To have 50 percent of an entire population in catastrophic, near-famine levels, is unprecedented,” Food and Agriculture Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol said.
The WFP said this was the “highest number of people ever recorded as facing catastrophic hunger” under the IPC system, originally developed in 2004.
The situation is particularly dire in the north of Gaza, where the UN says there are about 300,000 people — and where the IPC said famine was “imminent ... projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May.”
UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths urged Israel to allow unfettered access for aid to the besieged Palestinian territory, saying there was “no time to lose.”
“The international community should hang its head in shame for failing to stop this,” he said.
US Department of State spokesman Vedant Patel said the findings were “alarming” and revealed a “heartwrenching” picture of “children who are starving.”
“That is why we believe so strongly that everything must be done to scale up the delivery of humanitarian assistance,” he said.
The bloodiest-ever Gaza war broke out after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7, to which Israel responded with a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.
With aid agencies reporting huge difficulties gaining access to Gaza, particularly the north, the UN has warned for weeks that a famine is looming.
The IPC on Monday that while the technical criteria for famine had not yet been met, “all evidence points towards a major acceleration of deaths and malnutrition.”
The report highlighted the horrific toll on children.
“Hunger is a slow and painful death,” said Hiba Tibi, country director for the CARE international aid group, who reported aid workers seeing children “who can barely talk and walk” for lack of food.
A famine is declared when 20 percent of households face an extreme food shortage, which is the case in Gaza, the UN says.
Other criteria are that one in three children are acutely malnourished, and that at least two in every 10,000 people die every day of starvation or malnutrition.
“One in three children below the age of two is now acutely malnourished, or ‘wasted,’” meaning they are dangerously thin, according to the WFP.
In a statement, the World Health Organization pointed to the lasting effects of malnutrition, particularly on children, warning that the “current situation will have long-term effects on the lives and health of thousands.”
“This compromises the health and well-being of an entire future generation,” it added.
WFP chief economist Arif Husain said the final criteria for declaring a famine — the mortality rate — could be met within weeks.
The FAO said it could be already happening in the north, where data is patchy.
“Waiting for a retrospective famine classification before acting is indefensible,” the IPC said.
Donors have turned to deliveries by air or sea, but these are not viable alternatives to land deliveries, UN agencies say.
Aid charity Oxfam on Monday accused Israel of continuing to “systematically and deliberately block and undermine” the delivery of aid into Gaza, in contravention of international humanitarian law.
Gazans are “turning to alternative sources” for food, including animal feed and “inedible items, purely out of desperation,” Bechdol said.
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
RUSHED: The US pushed for the October deal to be ready for a ceremony with Trump, but sometimes it takes time to create an agreement that can hold, a Thai official said Defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia are to meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of resuming a ceasefire between the two countries, Thailand’s top diplomat said yesterday, as border fighting entered a third week. A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by US President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The two countries agreed to hold talks using their General Border Committee, an established bilateral mechanism, with Thailand
RSS