Famine has been officially declared in Gaza for the first time by the Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC), the UN-backed global hunger monitor.
The IPC released a report on Friday morning in which it said that famine was taking place in Gaza City and surrounding towns, in an area home to around 500,000 displaced Palestinians.
While the body has previously warned that famine was imminent across Gaza, it had stopped short of making a formal declaration.
The IPC is the globally recognised system for classifying the severity of food insecurity.
Since its creation in 2004, it has declared just five famines. The most recent one was in Sudan last year.
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It declares famine if three criteria are met: at least 20 percent of households face an extreme lack of food, at least 30 percent of children are suffering acute malnutrition, and two out of every 10,000 are dying each day due to “outright starvation”.
“After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions, characterised by starvation, destitution and death,” the IPC briefing said.
It added that famine would expand to the areas of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, and Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, by the end of September based on current projections.
Israel has imposed a near total blockade on the entry of food and humanitarian aid into Gaza since March.
According to the UN, the entire population under five in the Gaza Strip – more than 320,000 children – are at risk of acute malnutrition, due to a lack of safe water, breastmilk substitutes and therapeutic feeding.
This is a developing story …
