ROMA – One year after the start of the conflict, the threat of famine still looms over the entire Gaza Strip, with an ever-increasing number of people at risk of not having enough food and whose living conditions will worsen with the arrival of the winter season, underlines the new report published byIntegrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
The effects of the bombs. The new data details this year of war: 1.84 million people in the Gaza Strip are living in conditions of acute food insecurity due to the ongoing fighting; there are almost 2 million displaced people; 70 percent of cultivated fields have been destroyed; livelihoods have been decimated and so have local food production systems. Acute malnutrition is also at severe levels, ten times higher than before the intensification of hostilities. A slight reduction in the severity of hunger levels is largely attributable to the increase in humanitarian assistance in the areas of northern Gaza, Gaza city, Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis between May and August 2024. Unfortunately, however, this is an improvement short-lived as the ongoing fighting becomes increasingly bloody and since September humanitarian activity has once again been targeted by increased repression. According to the IPC, approximately 133,000 people, or 6 percent of the population, are now experiencing catastrophic-level food insecurity and this number will rise to 345,000, or 16 percent of the entire population, between November 2024 and April 2025.
The winter planting season is crucial. The priority of FAO now is to reactivate local food production and restore the availability of highly nutritious food in Gaza, particularly in view of the upcoming winter season characterized by colder temperatures and rainfall, which generally lead to a deterioration of food and nutritional security in fragile contexts like that of the Gaza Strip. Logistical and security-related difficulties arise in this context, in particular due to restrictions at border crossings. “Humanitarian aid alone is not enough. People need fresh, nutritious food. To make a difference, we must also support farmers to start producing food,” comments Beth Bechdol, FAO Deputy Director-General.
Loss of livestock. According to FAO, one of the problems in Gaza today is the significant loss of livestock, which is essential for people’s livelihoods and survival. One of the organization’s top priorities is to protect at least 30,000 sheep and goats, which represent about 40 percent of the total livestock estimated to be still alive. Enough milk can be obtained from these animals for all the children in Gaza. At the end of September, FAO distributed fodder to over 4,400 farmers in Rafah, Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah and veterinary kits to around 2,400 herding families.
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