Food shortages
in parts of the
Gaza Strip
have already far exceeded famine levels, and mass death is now imminent without an immediate ceasefire and surge of food into areas cut off by fighting, the global hunger monitor said.
The UN-backed Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification, or IPC, which formally declares famines, said two of its three criteria - the overall shortage of food and prevalence of malnutrition - had probably already been met.
It didn't have enough full data on death rates, its third criterion, but believed residents in affected areas would be dying of starvation and malnutrition at famine scale imminently, and children under four may already be. The group - set up in 2004 - has classified a famine only twice before: in Somalia in 2011 and in South Sudan in 2017.
"Famine is imminent in the northern governorates and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024," said the report. In all, 1.1 million Gazans, around half the population, were experiencing "catastrophic" shortages of food, the worst category, with around 300,000 in the areas now facing the prospect of famine-scale death rates.
The other parts of
Gaza
also face a risk of famine by July, the group said.
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