War on Gaza: Famine Threat Persists as Half a Million Starving

UN-backed report says hundreds of thousands of people go

entire days and nights without eating as Israel tightens siege

A high risk of famine persists across the Gaza Strip as almost the entire population faces high levels of acute food insecurity or worse, including half a million suffering starvation, according to a global hunger monitor.

The report published by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) found that over 20 percent of Gaza’s 2.2 million population households go entire days and nights without eating, amid the eight-month Israeli war and siege on Gaza.

More than half of Palestinian households have exchanged their clothes for money to buy food, while a third have had to pick up trash to sell, the UN-backed report added.

In March, the IPC warned that famine was imminent in Gaza, projecting it could happen by the end of May. Israel has for months imposed a tight siege on the Palestinian enclave blocking the delivery of basic life-saving food and medical items.

Independent UN investigators say Israel is using starvation of the Palestinian population as a weapon of war as part of a policy that amounts to genocide and collective punishment of civilians. The situation has further deteriorated in recent weeks with residents saying severe Israeli restrictions are back, escalating the starvation crisis again.

Israel’s ground invasion of Rafah, in southern Gaza, including its seizure of the Rafah crossing, has choked off the few routes into the enclave for humanitarian aid lorries. “The situation in Gaza remains catastrophic and there is a high and sustained risk of famine across the whole Gaza Strip,” the report said.

It added that the “humanitarian space in the Gaza Strip continues to shrink and the ability to safely deliver assistance to populations is dwindling,” warning that the “recent trajectory is negative and highly unstable”.

According to the latest projections, the IPC report said 96 percent of Gaza’s population face at least high levels of acute food insecurity through September. Of those, more than 495,000 face “an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities”.

In addition to widespread Israeli destruction of homes, markets and civilian infrastructure, nearly 60 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land has been destroyed or severely damaged, which has significantly impacted the food system, according to IPC.

The risk of disease outbreaks is increased by the “concentration of displaced populations into areas with significantly reduced water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), health and other essential infrastructure,” it added. Nearly 70 percent of hygiene facilities across Gaza were damaged or destroyed by the end of May.

According to the report, Gaza’s health systems also face complete collapse in the coming months, increasing the “likelihood of an epidemic outbreak” and the possibility of a “catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude compared to the suffering already witnessed in Gaza since October”.

The IPC considers sustained hostilities and displacement, as well as restricted humanitarian access over the past months, to be key drivers of the situation. “Only the cessation of hostilities in conjunction with sustained humanitarian access can reduce the risk of a famine.”

Courtesy: Middle East Eye (https://www.middleeasteye.net)