A famine is set to be declared in Gaza for the first time since the start of Israel’s two-year-long war against Hamas, with the hunger crisis reaching a tipping point due to low supplies of critical aid.
A report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the main global hunger monitor working with the UN and other aid agencies, is expected to be released on Friday. The group warned in an interim statement in July that famine was imminent in parts of the besieged Strip, but stopped short of making a declaration.
The IPC will reportedly classify the famine as occurring in the “Gaza Governorate”, which includes Gaza City and surrounding towns, which is home to some 500,000 people.
To declare a famine, the IPC dictates that at least 20 per cent of households must experience extreme food scarcity, 30 per cent of children must suffer from acute malnutrition, and two people per 10,000 must die daily from starvation.
“After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions, characterised by starvation, destitution and death,” the IPC said, according to The Telegraph.
This marks “the first time a famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East region”, the briefing says, although the region has suffered hunger crises historically. Between the middle of August and the end of September, almost a third of the population or nearly 641,000 people, are expected to face catastrophic conditions, while the number of people in emergency will likely increase to 1.14 million, the IPC added.
The group warned that the famine is expected to spread to other areas by the end of September, affecting more than one million people, who are currently in a state of “emergency” food insecurity.
Earlier this week the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) also warned that nearly half a million Palestinians in Gaza were on the brink of famine and stressed for urgent need for a ceasefire to expand humanitarian aid.
Israel resumed allowing more food into Gaza in late July following a global outcry at Tel Aviv’s restrictions on aid since March. Israel does not accept there is widespread malnutrition among Palestinians in Gaza and disputes the hunger fatality figures given by the health ministry in the Hamas-run Strip.
Tel Aviv argues the deaths were due to other medical causes.
The volume of aid reaching Gaza was too small and distribution too chaotic to stop more people becoming malnourished, while those who are already starving or vulnerable are not getting life-saving supplements, three hunger experts and aid workers from six agencies told Reuters.
In the 22 months following the 7 October, 2023 attacks by Hamas, 89 fatalities were attributed to malnutrition or starvation, mostly children under 18. In just the first 20 days of August, there were 133 deaths, including 25 under 18s, the ministry said on Wednesday.
“We are seeing the worst possible humanitarian catastrophe that we can even measure,” said Jeanette Bailey, a child nutrition lead at the International Rescue Committee, a New York-based aid organisation.
There are “going to be a lot more children dying, a lot more pregnant and lactating women suffering from malnutrition”, she told Reuters.
Gaunt-looking Aisha Wahdan gave her eight-month-old son Hatem fortified milk from a bottle, saying that before coming to hospital she tried to wean him on wild plants such as carob, chamomile and thyme because she could not breastfeed. “There was no milk. I used natural herbs and tried everything because there was no milk substitute,” she said.
Some ordinary baby formula, needed for those whose mothers are dead or unable to breastfeed, or when the child is unwell, has entered Gaza since the aid blockade was loosened, UNICEF said on Tuesday. However, the agency said it only has stocks for 2,500 babies for a month and estimates that at least 10,000 babies need formula.
“Without consistent entry and distribution of items like specialised supplementary feeding items – high energy biscuits and fortified foods – we are watching a preventable crisis turn into a widespread nutrition emergency,” said Antoine Renard, Palestine country director of the WFP.
“At first it affects the most vulnerable groups but of course that will broaden,” he said.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for aid, said in a 12 August media statement that most deaths attributed to malnutrition by Palestinian health authorities were caused by other medical conditions. Malnutrition experts say deaths among people with existing health problems are typical in the early stages of a hunger crisis.
Israel has recognised shortages of food, but blames the United Nations for failing to effectively distribute supplies and Hamas for stealing it, which the groups deny. An official Israeli review found “no signs of a widespread malnutrition phenomenon among the population in Gaza”, COGAT said.
The famine declaration comes as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to order the occupation of Gaza City, while also saying he wants to negotiate the release of the last remaining hostages held by Hamas after its 7 October attack on southern Israel, which killed around 1,200 people.
The Gaza health ministry said Thursday that at least 62,192 Palestinians have been killed in the war.
