Famine officially declared in Gaza

“STARVATION, DESTITUTION AND DEATH’

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FAMINE has been officially confirmed in the Gaza City region and is projected to spread within weeks to two more population centres in the wider Gaza Strip, the global authority on hunger said on Friday, describing the recent collapse of food security there as the territory’s “most severe deterioration” since it began monitoring in 2023.

After 22 months of war, displacement and harsh Israeli restrictions on food and other aid, more than half a million people in Gaza City and its environs are facing catastrophic conditions “characterised by starvation, destitution and death” under criteria that meet the famine threshold, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in a report.

“As this famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed,” the report said. “The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed.” Without swift action, including a ceasefire, “avoidable deaths will increase exponentially”, it warned.

By the end of September, the number experiencing famine conditions will grow to at least 641000 - or a third of the Gaza Strip’s total population — as famine spreads to the Deir al-Balah region in central Gaza and Khan Younis in the south, the report said.

It was released as the Israeli military pummeled neighbourhoods in Gaza City, the initial stage of an operation to seize and occupy the enclave’s largest metropolis. The offensive will include the mass evacuation of residents in the city, according to the Israeli military.

It “risks triggering an unprecedented, life-threatening humanitarian crisis,” the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights warned this week.

The IPC finding marks the first time famine has been confirmed in Gaza and the Middle East region, according to the World Health Organization.