UN-backed experts declare 'entirely man-made' famine in Gaza City and call for urgent action

An "entirely man-made" famine is taking place in Gaza's largest city and its surrounding area amid deteriorating conditions that threaten an exponential increase in deaths across the territory, UN-backed experts have declared.

- Jason Burke Malak A Tantesh Gaza

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a globally recognised organisation that classifies the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition, found that three key thresholds for famine had been met, signalling an escalation of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Only four famines have been declared by the IPC since it was established in 2004, most recently in Sudan last year.

"This famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed," the report says. "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. Any further delay - even by days - will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of famine-related mortality."

"If a ceasefire is not implemented to allow humanitarian aid to reach everyone in the Gaza Strip, and if essential food supplies and basic health, nutrition and [sanitation and water] services are not restored immediately, avoidable deaths will increase exponentially."