'Famine thresholds reached for food consumption in most of Gaza Strip, for acute malnutrition in Gaza City,' says report by global hunger monitoring system
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global hunger monitoring system, warned on Tuesday that "the worst-case scenario of famine" is currently unfolding in Gaza amid intensified conflict, displacement, and plummeted access to food.
"Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," the IPC said in a new report. "Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City."
Stressing that malnutrition has been rising rapidly in the first half of July, the report found that over 20,000 children have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, with more than 3,000 severely malnourished.
Hospitals have reported a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths of children aged under 5, with at least 16 reported deaths since July 17, it added.
"Immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow for unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response," the IPC urged. "This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering."
The report said people’s access to food across Gaza is “now alarmingly erratic and extremely perilous,” as since May 27, over 1,000 people have been killed while trying to access food.
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza for 18 years and, since March 2, has shut down all crossings, blocking the entry of aid convoys and ignoring international calls to reopen them.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 147 people have died of starvation since October 2023, including 88 children.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing nearly 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
