Aug 22, 10:10 AM

UN-Backed Monitor Confirms Gaza Famine, 500,000 Face Catastrophic Hunger

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A United-Nations-backed panel of food-security experts on Friday confirmed that Gaza City and adjacent districts have entered famine, the first time the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has made such a determination in the Middle East. The finding follows 22 months of war and restrictions on aid flows, and places more than half a million Palestinians in Phase-5 conditions marked by “starvation, destitution and death.” The IPC warns the crisis is worsening rapidly: famine is projected to engulf Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September, pushing the number of people facing catastrophic hunger to about 641,000. Current data show that at least one-fifth of households lack any food, over 30 % of children are acutely malnourished and mortality rates have crossed the emergency threshold of two deaths per 10,000 people per day. Israel’s government, whose military campaign and blockade have sharply curtailed food, fuel and medical deliveries, rejected the report as “false and biased,” asserting that aid volumes are rising. UN agencies including WHO, UNICEF, WFP and FAO said the famine was preventable and reiterated calls for an immediate cease-fire and unhindered humanitarian access to avert further deaths. The decision is only the fifth famine classification issued by the IPC since 2004, following determinations in Somalia, South Sudan (twice) and Sudan. Humanitarian organisations say the ruling adds legal and political pressure on Israel and international donors to expand relief corridors before the hunger emergency spreads across the Gaza Strip.