‘Strong possibility’ of imminent famine in northern Gaza: Food security experts | Israel-Palestine Conflicts News

There is a “strong possibility that famine is imminent in areas” of northern Gaza, according to a committee of international food security experts, as the Israeli military continues a major offensive in the area.

“Immediate action, within days and not weeks, is needed by all actors directly involved in this conflict, or influencing its behavior, to avoid and alleviate this terrible situation,” said the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) in a rare warning on Friday.

This warning comes a few days before the deadline of the United States of Israel, which began to provoke in the north of the enclave last month, to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face possible restrictions on aid to the American military.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that there are between 75,000 and 95,000 people still in northern Gaza.

The FRC said “it can be assumed that hunger, malnutrition, and excess deaths from malnutrition and disease, are increasing rapidly” in northern Gaza.

“It is possible that hunger limits have already been exceeded or will be soon,” he said.

‘The unacceptable is guaranteed’

The committee reviews the findings of the global hunger monitoring company – the internationally recognized standard known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

The IPC defines hunger as when at least 20 percent of people in an area suffer from severe food insecurity, at least 30 percent of children are malnourished and two in 10,000 people die every day from hunger or malnutrition and disease.

The IPC is a system involving UN agencies, national governments and aid groups that sets a global standard for measuring food crises.

Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), said after the warning was issued: “The unacceptable is confirmed: Famine is occurring or imminent in northern Gaza.”

He wrote on social media X: “Immediate steps MUST be taken to allow a safe, rapid and unimpeded flow of aid and trade to prevent disaster.” NOW,” he said.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said that northern Gaza has been under heavy siege for more than 30 days, with no food, medicine or water allowed to enter.

“No international organization can bring food to that place. “Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoon, and Jabalia are still under constant attack,” he said.

The IPC warned last month that the entire Gaza Strip was at risk of starvation, while top UN officials last week described northern Gaza as “apocalyptic” and said everyone was “at risk of death from disease, hunger and violence”.

US calls for more aid trucks

The amount of aid entering Gaza has dropped to its lowest level in a year, according to UN data, which has repeatedly accused Israel of obstructing and hindering humanitarian efforts, especially in the north of the enclave.

Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon last month told the UN Security Council that Hamas was hijacking aid – a claim the group denied.

The US says Israel must allow at least 350 trucks a day carrying food and other supplies.

In October, 57 trucks per day entered Gaza on average, according to statistics from COGAT – the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, and 81 per day in the first week of November.

The UN puts that figure at 37 trucks every day since early October.

It was an average of 500 trucks every day before the war, said Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP director of food security and nutrition analysis.