‘Worst-case scenario of famine' happening in Gaza, experts say
The international pressure led Israel over the weekend to announce measures, including daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and air drops.
The United Nations and Palestinians on the ground say little has changed though, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm and unload delivery trucks before they can reach their destinations.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years but recent developments have 'dramatically worsened' the situation, including 'increasingly stringent blockades' by Israel.
A formal famine declaration, which is rare, requires the kind of data that the lack of access to Gaza and mobility within has largely denied.
The IPC has only declared famine a few times — in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and parts of Sudan's western Darfur region last year.
But independent experts say they do not need a formal declaration to know what they are seeing in Gaza.
'Just as a family physician can often diagnose a patient she's familiar with based on visible symptoms without having to send samples to the lab and wait for results, so too we can interpret Gaza's symptoms. This is famine,' Alex de Waal, author of Mass Starvation: The History And Future Of Famine and executive director of the World Peace Foundation, told The Associated Press.
An area is classified as in famine when all three of the following conditions are confirmed:
– At least 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, or are essentially starving.
– At least 30% of children aged six months to five-years-old suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning they are too thin for their height.
– At least two people or four children under five per 10,000 are dying daily due to starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.
The report is based on available information through to July 25 and says the crisis has reached 'an alarming and deadly turning point'.
It says data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza — at its lowest level since the war began — and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.
The report says nearly 17 out of every 100 children under the age of five in Gaza City are acutely malnourished.
Mounting evidence shows 'widespread starvation'.
Essential health and other services have collapsed. One in three people in Gaza is going without food for days at a time, according to the World Food Programme.
Hospitals report a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths in children under five. Gaza's population of over two million has been squeezed into increasingly tiny areas of the devastated territory.
The IPC's latest analysis in May warned that Gaza will likely fall into famine if Israel does not lift its blockade and stop its military campaign.
Its new alert calls for immediate and large-scale action and warns: 'Failure to act now will result in widespread death in much of the strip.'
Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine, to pressure Hamas to free hostages.
Israel eased those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead with a new US-backed aid delivery system that has been wracked by chaos and violence.
The traditional, UN-led aid providers say deliveries have been hampered by Israeli military restrictions and incidents of looting, while criminals and hungry crowds swarm convoys.
While Israel says there is no limit on how many aid trucks can enter Gaza, UN agencies and aid groups say even the latest humanitarian measures are not enough to counter the worsening starvation.
In a statement Monday, Doctors Without Borders called the new air drops ineffective and dangerous, saying they deliver less aid than trucks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said no one is starving in Gaza and that Israel has supplied enough aid throughout the war, 'otherwise, there would be no Gazans'. Israel's military criticised what it calls 'false claims of deliberate starvation in Gaza'.
Israel's closest ally now appears to disagree. 'Those children look very hungry,' President Donald Trump said on Monday of the images from Gaza in recent days.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
Gaza famine visible from space as UN declares ‘worst-case scenario'
The hunger crisis in Gaza has become visible from space as thousands of Palestinians can be seen crowding around aid trucks in new satellite imagery. The images show a mass of thousands of people gathered around 15 lorries as they reached the south of the war-torn Strip on Saturday in a display of desperation. It came as the global body responsible for monitoring hunger warned on Tuesday that the ' worst-case scenario of famine ' is now unfolding in the territory. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – an initiative made up of 21 aid groups, governments and UN agencies – said: 'Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths.' Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, conceded that the situation in the Strip was 'difficult', saying Israel was working to allow in 'large quantities of aid'. The IPC has not yet formally designated Gaza as being in a state of famine – a specific and stringent classification which requires intensive collection of data – but said it would conduct that analysis 'without delay'. In order for the body to declare famine, it will have to prove that at least 20 per cent of Gaza's 2.1 million population (equal to 420,000 people) are experiencing an 'extreme' lack of food. More than 30 per cent of children under five also have to be suffering from acute malnutrition, and at least two people per 10,000 die from starvation per day. In the alert, the IPC also warned that aid which could avert a hunger crisis 'remains extremely restricted due to requests for humanitarian access being repeatedly denied and frequent security incidents'. It added: 'Despite the easing of the blockade on 19 May, only a trickle of humanitarian assistance, mainly food, has entered the Gaza Strip. Bakeries remain closed, and community kitchens – though operational – are vastly inadequate to meet the scale of need.' Data shared with The Telegraph by Unicef last week suggests the situation has been rapidly deteriorating month on month. In January, 2,846 children were diagnosed with malnutrition – a figure that has more than doubled to 5,870 in June. In July alone, at least 63 people, including 24 children under five, died from hunger, most showing signs of 'severe wasting,' according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Israel strongly denies it has a policy of starving Gazans, accusing foreign capitals and much of the foreign media of parroting a 'Hamas famine narrative'. On Sunday, the government announced it would instigate a series of daily pauses in combat operations in certain key population areas, as well as establishing safe routes for aid trucks. The UN and other NGOs have welcomed the move but said access needed to be drastically expanded to avert humanitarian disaster. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies into the territory, while France said it would drop aid into Gaza 'in the coming days', AFP news agency reported. A report in the Qatar-owned New Arab outlet suggested that approximately half of the aid trucks that had entered from Egypt had been looted, with the contents sold in local markets. The UN has also said its drivers have encountered looting from a febrile and desperate population. Israel alleges that Hamas is conducting widespread looting of aid trucks. On Tuesday the Gaza Health Ministry, which comes under the control of Hamas, said Israel's military operation in the Strip had killed at least 60,000 Palestinians since October 7 2023. It said most of the Palestinians killed were civilians, although the body has previously been accused of failing to distinguish between terrorists and non-combatants. There were unconfirmed reports of approximately 30 Gazan civilians killed in Israeli air strikes overnight, with more than 100 killed in the past 24 hours by both shootings and air strikes.
The Herald Scotland
4 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Gaza death toll hits 60,000 amid mass starvation
The alert by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) raised the prospect that the man-made starvation crisis in Gaza could be formally classified as a famine, in the hope that this might raise the pressure on Israel to let in far more food. More: 'Every ounce of food': Trump presses Israel on starvation in Gaza; 'children look very hungry' Starvation, malnutrition, disease With international criticism growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the World Food Program (WFP) said July 29 it was not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid since Israel began humanitarian pauses on Sunday. "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," the IPC said, adding that "famine thresholds" have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip. It said it would quickly carry out the formal analysis that could allow it to classify Gaza as "in famine." More: One meal a day. $20 for an egg. Choosing which kid gets fed. Starvation stalks Gaza For famine to be declared, at least 20% of the population must be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or from malnutrition and disease. Gaza health authorities have been reporting more and more people dying from hunger-related causes. The total stands at 147, among them 88 children, most of whom died in the last few weeks. More: Two Israeli rights groups say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza Images of emaciated Palestinian children have shocked the world, with Israel's strongest ally, President Donald Trump, declaring that many people were starving. He promised to set up new "food centers." Israel has denied pursuing a policy of starvation. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza was "tough" but there were lies about starvation there. Deadliest conflict The death toll of 60,000 announced by Gaza health authorities, whose figures are often cited by the U.N. and have previously described as reliable by the World Health Organization, underlines this as the deadliest war in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The previous deadliest conflict between Israel and the Hamas Islamist group - which seized control of Gaza in 2007 - was in 2014, when 2,100 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, while Israel lost 67 soldiers and six civilians. Israel launched its latest offensive in response to Hamas' attacks on October 7, 2023, when militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage - Israel's deadliest ever day. The new Palestinian toll does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Thousands more bodies are believed to be buried under rubble, meaning the true toll is likely to be significantly higher, Palestinian officials and rescue workers say. More: USAID analysis found no evidence of massive Hamas theft of Gaza aid Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least 30 Palestinians in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, Gaza health authorities said. Doctors at Al-Awda Hospital said at least 14 women and 12 children were among the dead. The hospital also said that 13 people had been killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire along the Salahudeen Road as they waited for aid trucks to roll into Gaza. A total of 55 Palestinians were killed in attacks overnight, Gaza health authorities said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fifty of the hostages seized on October 7 remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive. The latest talks aimed at securing a ceasefire and freeing the hostages collapsed last week. Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would keep fighting until the hostages were freed and Hamas' military and governing capabilities destroyed. Only half of food aid approved Saar said 5,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the last two months, and that Israel would assist those wanting to conduct airdrops - a delivery method that aid groups say is ineffective and tokenistic. Ross Smith, a senior regional programme adviser at the World Food Program, told reporters in Geneva by video: "We're getting approximately 50% of what we're requesting into Gaza since these humanitarian pauses started on Sunday. "We are not going to be able to address the needs of the population unless we can move in the volume that we need." After an 11-week Israeli blockade, limited U.N.-led aid operations resumed on May 19 and a week later the obscure new U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - backed by Israel and the United States - began distributing food aid. The rival efforts have sparked a war of words - pitting Israel, the U.S. and the GHF against the U.N., international aid groups and dozens of governments from around the world. Israel and the U.S. accuse Hamas of stealing aid - which the militants deny - and the U.N. of failing to prevent it. The U.N. says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. Hamas accuses Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon. The IPC said 88% of Gaza was now under evacuation orders or within militarized areas, and was critical of GHF efforts. It said most of the GHF food items "require water and fuel to cook, which are largely unavailable." The IPC's Famine Review Committee said: "Our analysis of the food packages supplied by the GHF shows that their distribution plan would lead to mass starvation." GHF said its aid boxes are based on the same ingredient lists used by other aid groups and meet standards for total calories and nutritional value.
The Herald Scotland
4 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Marjorie Taylor Greene says there is genocide in Gaza, amid starvation
More: Two Israeli rights groups say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza Hers is an uncommon statement in a caucus that has rallied around Israel since October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel has strongly rejected claims that the country is perpetuating a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Recently the Israeli military announced it would pause action in certain parts of Gaza for hours each day and increase aid drops in the enclave. Reports of mass starvation have spread since Israel first cut off supplies to the region in March, then reopened aid lines, with new restrictions, in May. More than 125 people have died due to malnutrition, including 85 children, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said over the weekend. A 5-month-old baby, Zainab Abu Haleeb, died of malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza on July 26. In recent weeks, more than 800 people have been killed while trying to reach food, according to the United Nations, mostly in shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers. "I can unequivocally say that what happened to innocent people in Israel on Oct 7th was horrific," Greene wrote in an earlier social media post over the weekend. "Just as I can unequivocally say that what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific." "This war and humanitarian crisis must end!" Her post on July 28 calling Israel's attack on Gaza a genocide was part of a direct criticism of her Republican colleague Rep. Randy Fine, who was elected in April to fill the seat vacated by former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Fine, a Jewish member of Congress and staunch defender of Israel, has been outspoken on social media, denying the crisis in Gaza in multiple posts and writing in another, "starve away."
