Paris (AFP) – Gaza is at “critical risk of famine,” with the entire population facing a food crisis after more than two months of an Israeli aid blockade, a food security monitor warned Monday. Twenty-two percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million people are facing a humanitarian “catastrophe,” while the entire population is at risk of a food crisis “or worse” by September, the UN- and NGO-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in a report. It said there had been a “major deterioration” in the situation since its last assessment in October 2024.
“The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people — one in five — facing starvation,” it said. The consortium, which uses a five-level famine warning system, found that from April 1 to May 10, 244,000 people in Gaza were in the most critical food security situation — level five, or “catastrophe/famine.” It classified another 925,000 as level four, or “emergency.”
The warning came after Israel’s security cabinet last week approved plans to expand its ongoing military operation, including the “conquest” of Gaza and the displacement of its population.
– ‘People are starving’ –
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warned that agriculture in Gaza was “on the brink of total collapse.” It called for the “immediate” lifting of the blockade, saying aid like animal feed and veterinary supplies was urgently needed to maintain precious production of items such as milk and eggs, often the last remaining food. Israel, which launched its Gaza offensive after the October 7, 2023 attacks led by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, imposed its current aid blockade on March 2.
“Families in Gaza are starving while the food they need is sitting at the border,” said the UN World Food Programme’s executive director, Cindy McCain. “If we wait until after a famine is confirmed, it will already be too late for many people.”
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed the call for an end to the aid blockade. “We do not need to wait for a declaration of #famine in #Gaza to know that people are already starving, sick and dying, while food and medicines are minutes away across the border,” he wrote on X.
© 2024 AFP
