Rabat – Calls for immediate action emerge following a new report which reveals that famine “is now projected and imminent” for Gazans.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global system which assess different levels of acute food insecurity, outlined that 30% of households in Gaza are experiencing “catastrophic” levels of hunger which is the most severe level on the IPC’s five-phase metric for measuring famine, a sharp increase from the 17% that was last reported in December.
Sudan, Somalia, and Afghanistan are nations which have also experienced crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity in recent years, but despite this, they have never fallen into this tier on the IPC’s five-phase metric, outlining the perilous situation in Gaza.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported that at least 25 Palestinians have died from starvation, some of whom are children. Additionally, one in three children are acutely malnourished.
Moamen al-Harthani, a resident of the northern Gaza town of Jabalya, was quoted in an article by the Washington Post saying that “there is no rice, no sugar, no beans, no lentils… no fruit or vegetables. People eat the food of animals and livestock.”
Moreover, he added that since the start of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) brutal campaign on Gaza, he has lost around 60 pounds in weight.
He is not alone; hundreds of Gazans report that they are fasting regardless of this holy month of Ramadan.
Action Against Hunger’s Director of Operations, Vincent Stehli, said in a statement that “we’ve been working in Gaza for 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like it… 80% of the children have infectious diseases: 70% have diarrhoea. They don’t have enough food. Health services can’t function. It’s a perfect mix for malnutrition to have devastating impacts. This is just the beginning”.
Likewise, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Monday that the IOF are using starvation as a “weapon of war” and thus the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is “manmade”.
The news also comes in wake of a report released by Oxfam on Monday, accusing the IOF of deliberately blocking aid into Gaza.
Despite these accusations, the IOF denies the claims, instead suggesting that the UN is responsible for blocking aid deliveries.
As the war passes its 164th day, at least 31,726 Palestinians have now been killed and 73,792 wounded since October 8, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Read also: Gaza Death Toll Rising Amid Israel Occupation Forces’ Ongoing Aggression
