There is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas” of northern Gaza, according to a committee of global food security experts, as Israeli forces continue a major offensive in the area.
“Immediate action is required, within days and not weeks, by all actors directly involved in the conflict, or influencing its conduct, to prevent and alleviate this catastrophic situation,” said the independent Review Committee. (FRC) in a statement. rare alert on Friday.
The warning comes just days before the US deadline for Israel, which began its offensive in the north of the enclave last month, to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face possible restrictions on US military aid.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that there are still between 75,000 and 95,000 people in northern Gaza.
The FRC said it could be “assumed that hunger, malnutrition and excess mortality due to malnutrition and disease are increasing rapidly” in northern Gaza.
“Famine thresholds may already have been crossed or will be crossed in the near future,” he said.
'The unacceptable is confirmed'
The committee reviews the findings of the global hunger monitor, an internationally recognized standard known as the Integrated Food Safety Phase Classification (IPC).
The CPI defines famine as when at least 20 percent of an area's population suffers from extreme food shortages, with at least 30 percent of children severely malnourished and two people out of 10,000 dying daily from hunger or malnutrition. and diseases.
The CPI is an initiative involving UN agencies, national governments and aid groups that sets the global standard for measuring food crises.
Cindy McCain, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), said after the alert was issued: “The unacceptable is confirmed: famine is likely or imminent in northern Gaza.”
He posted on social media platform NOW,” he said.
Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said northern Gaza has been under strict siege for more than 30 days, with no food, medicine or water allowed in.
“There has not been any access by any international organization to deliver food in that area. “Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoon and Jabalia continue to suffer endless attacks,” he said.
The IPC warned last month that the entire Gaza Strip was at risk of famine, while senior UN officials last week described northern Gaza as “apocalyptic” and said everyone there was “at imminent risk of dying from diseases, famine and violence.”
US urges increase in aid trucks
The amount of aid entering Gaza has plummeted to its lowest level in a year, according to data from the UN, which has repeatedly accused Israel of hindering and blocking attempts to deliver humanitarian supplies, particularly to the north of the enclave.
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, told the UN Security Council last month that Hamas was hijacking aid, a claim the group has denied.
The United States says Israel must allow a minimum of 350 trucks per day carrying food and other supplies.
In October, an average of 57 trucks a day entered Gaza, according to figures from COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, and 81 a day in the first week of November.
The UN puts that figure 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, director of food security and nutritional analysis at the WFP.
