Famine Is ‘Imminent’ for Northern Gaza, Experts Say
A global authority on food security said that in the coming months, as many as 1.1 million people in Gaza could face the most severe levels of hunger.
Experts project that northern Gaza will face famine conditions as soon as this month, and that half of the enclave’s population will suffer deadly levels of hunger, according to a new report from the global authority that has classified food security crises for decades.
The report, released Monday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification global initiative, projected that famine is “imminent” for the 300,000 Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza, where such conditions will develop by the end of May. And by mid-July, as many as 1.1 million people in Gaza could face what the group characterized as the worst stage of hunger: an “extreme lack of food,” and severe levels of starvation, death, destitution and acute malnutrition.
Food insecurity levels by region
Emergency
Stressed
Crisis
Catastrophe
North Gaza and Gaza
20%
25%
55%
Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis
20%
45%
30%
Rafah
30%
40%
25%
Food insecurity levels by region
Crisis
Stressed
Emergency
Catastrophe
North Gaza and Gaza
20%
25%
55%
Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis
5%
20%
45%
30%
Rafah
5%
30%
40%
25%
The group — set up in 2004 by U.N. agencies and international relief groups, and known as the I.P.C. — has classified a famine only twice: in 2011, in parts of Somalia, and in 2017, in parts of South Sudan. In those countries, relatively small proportions of the population met the group’s criteria for famine conditions. In Gaza, the residents of the critically threatened north make up more than 13 percent of the population.
According to the I.P.C., a famine occurs when three conditions are met: at least 20 percent of households have an extreme lack of food; at least 30 percent of children suffer from acute malnutrition; and at least two adults, or four children, for every 10,000 people die daily from starvation or from disease linked to malnutrition. (Although I.P.C. experts conduct and review the analysis necessary to classify a famine, only government and top U.N. officials can officially make an official declaration.)
The report noted that the first condition had already been met, and the second most likely has been reached. Collecting data on the third, malnutrition-linked deaths, is immensely difficult in a war zone, the group has said. The death rate among children appeared higher than for adults, it added, but said it was “impossible to ascertain.”
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