A UN-backed report predicts famine in the northern Gaza Strip between now and May after more than five months of war that has shattered the Palestinian territory, left thousands dead and cut off supplies. announced on Monday.
According to the Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) report, the number of people facing “catastrophic hunger” across the besieged enclaves has reached 1.1 million, or about half the population.
“Famine is currently predicted in North Gaza and Gaza Governorate, is imminent and expected to manifest during the forecast period from mid-March 2024 to May 2024,” the report said. Ta.
The assessment by the U.N.-backed initiative, a measure used by U.N. agencies, regional organizations and aid groups, comes amid global pressure for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid to the enclave of 2.3 million people. I was disappointed.
Approximately 300,000 people have lost their lives in the fighting in the north.
The number of people considered at risk of catastrophic starvation in Gaza is almost double the number reported in December, when the last IPC for Gaza was published and there was already record hunger. .
“Assuming an escalation of the conflict, including a ground attack on Rafah, in the most likely scenario between mid-March and mid-July, half of the population of the Gaza Strip (1.11 million people) would face a catastrophic situation. “There are conditions in which it is expected that
Israel has announced plans to attack the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which borders Egypt, in a bid to eradicate Hamas fighters, but it is also participating in mediation talks over a possible ceasefire.
Call for a ceasefire and positive solutions
IPC’s analysis says starvation could still be averted if Israel and Hamas cease fighting and aid groups have greater access.
“The necessary action to prevent starvation requires a significant and immediate expansion of humanitarian and commercial access for all Gazans, as well as an immediate political decision to ceasefire,” it said.
“Every effort must be made to restore and provide health, water, sanitation services and energy, while ensuring the provision of food, water and medicine and the protection of civilians.”
Watch l United Nations’ Martin Griffiths speaks to CBC News about the risk of child hunger:
Warning: Video contains graphic images. Martin Griffiths, speaking to The National’s UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Adrienne Arsenault, said the deteriorating situation in Gaza was shocking and feared the region would soon be on the brink of famine. He warned that he might face it.
In response to the report, the World Health Organization said: “Famine can be stopped even in the short term, requiring urgent and proactive action by the parties to the conflict and the international community.”
Meanwhile, the head of the UN Palestine Refugee Agency said on Monday that the famine in the Gaza Strip was “man-made”.
UNRWA Executive Director Philippe Lazzarini told a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry: “We are in a race against time to reverse the effects of widespread and looming famine in the Gaza Strip.” ” he said.
With the right political will, the crisis could be resolved and reversed, and food could arrive in Gaza in a “flood” across the border, he added.
Due to persistent hostilities and severe restrictions on humanitarian access,Residents of the #GazaStrip are exposed to devastating levels of severe food insecurity. .
Complete analysis ➡️https://t.co/dpWbC6fWHa pic.twitter.com/Zct1S5l616
Israel outraged by EU chief’s accusations
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was even more pointed in his remarks on Monday, saying Israel was causing famine in Gaza and using hunger as a weapon of war.
“We are no longer on the brink of starvation in Gaza. We are starving and thousands of people are affected,” Borrell said at the start of a Gaza humanitarian conference in Brussels.
“This is unacceptable. Hunger is being used as a weapon of war. Israel is causing famine.”
In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz called on Borrell to “cease attacks on Israel and recognize Hamas’s right to self-defense against its crimes.”
In a post on X, Katz said Israel is allowing “massive humanitarian assistance to Gaza by land, air and sea for anyone who wishes to help.”
US President Joe Biden has announced that the US military will build a temporary port on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast to receive humanitarian aid by sea, but hospitals in northern Gaza are already reporting children dying of malnutrition. Therefore, the temporary port plan does not seem to be an immediate solution. For those who are already hungry.
White House officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the plan would take an unspecified number of weeks.
