According to a committee of global food security experts, there is “a strong possibility that famine is imminent in areas” of northern Gaza, as Israeli forces push for a major offensive in the area.
The Independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) said in a statement, “To prevent and mitigate this devastating situation, all actors directly participating in the conflict, or influencing its conduct, “Immediate action is needed within a few days, if not weeks.” Rare warning on Friday.
The warning comes just days before a United States deadline for Israel, which launched its offensive in the north of the enclave last month, to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza or face possible sanctions on US military aid .
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 75,000 to 95,000 people are still in northern Gaza.
The FRC said it “can be assumed that starvation, malnutrition and excess mortality due to malnutrition and disease are increasing rapidly” in northern Gaza.
“Famine thresholds have probably already been exceeded or will be in the near future,” it says.
‘The unacceptable has been confirmed’
The Committee reviews the findings of the Global Hunger Monitor – an internationally recognized standard known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
The IPC defines famine when at least 20 percent of people in an area suffer from extreme food shortages, at least 30 percent of children are severely undernourished and two out of 10,000 people suffer from starvation or malnutrition and disease every day. Die.
The IPC is an initiative involving United Nations agencies, national governments and aid groups that sets global standards for measuring food crises.
Cindy McCain, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), said after the warning was issued: “The unacceptable has been confirmed: famine is likely or imminent in northern Gaza.”
They social media platforms right now,” she said.
Reporting from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said northern Gaza has been under strict siege for more than 30 days, with no food, medicine or water allowed.
“There is no access by any international organization to deliver food to that area. Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya are still under endless attacks,” he said.
The IPC warned last month that the entire Gaza Strip was at risk of famine, while top UN officials last week described northern Gaza as “apocalyptic” and said everyone there was “at risk of dying from disease, famine and violence.” was in “imminent danger”.
US urges increase in aid trucks
The volume of aid entering Gaza has fallen to the lowest level in a year, according to UN data, which has accused Israel of repeatedly obstructing and blocking efforts to deliver humanitarian supplies, particularly to the north of the enclave. Have been accused repeatedly.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon told the UN Security Council last month that Hamas was hijacking aid – a claim the group denies.
The US says Israel should allow at least 350 trucks a day carrying food and other supplies.
In October, an average of 57 trucks per day entered Gaza, and 81 trucks per day entered in the first week of November, according to data from COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs.
The United Nations puts the number at 37 trucks a day since the beginning of October.
Before the war it was an average of 500 trucks a day, said Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP’s director of food security and nutrition analysis.
