The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in a new alert issued this morning, that Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years, but recent developments, including “increasingly stringent blockades” by Israel, have “dramatically worsened” the situation. The IPC has not issued a formal famine declaration, however, because it is unable to collect the data on which such a declaration depends, due to Israeli restrictions, reported AP.
The IPC alert is based on available information through July 25, and says the crisis has reached “an alarming and deadly turning point.” It says data indicate that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza—at their lowest level since the war began—and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City. The report says nearly 17 out of every 100 children under the age of 5 in Gaza City are acutely malnourished.
Mounting evidence shows “widespread starvation.” Essential health and other services have collapsed. One in three people in Gaza is going without food for days at a time, according to the World Food Program. Hospitals report a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths in children under 5. Gaza’s population of over 2 million has been squeezed into increasingly tiny areas of the devastated territory.
Malnutrition is in particular a significant risk to children in Gaza. “We warn of a significant increase in deaths as all areas of the Gaza Strip enter critical stages of hunger,” Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, told Al Jazeera. He noted that children in the region have become “mere skeletons” and added that the “severe shortage of baby formula” poses a real danger. “The malnutrition conditions of children during their growth phase will affect an entire generation in the region.”
