Famine threatens in the north of the Gaza Strip, in a context of intensification of Israeli army operations and an almost total cessation of food aid, warns a UN report on Saturday.
This report from the Integrated Food Safety Classification Framework (IPC) warns of “an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip“. “Famine thresholds may have already been crossed or will be in the near future“, estimates this report.
On October 17, a previous IPC report, the result of the expert work of NGOs and UN agencies including that for Food and Agriculture (FAO) based in Rome, estimated that some 345,000 Gazans would face hunger at a level “catastrophic” between November and April 2025, or 16% of the population.
This assessment corresponds to the highest level of the Integrated Food Security Classification Framework, level 5 (3: crisis, 4: emergency, 5: disaster). However, since then, the situation has deteriorated in the north of the Gaza Strip with the collapse of food systems, a drop in humanitarian aid and a critical situation in terms of water, sanitation and hygiene, underlines the report.
“We can therefore estimate that hunger, malnutrition and excess mortality due to malnutrition and disease are increasing rapidly.“, he said.
According to the report, the number of aid shipments allowed into the Gaza Strip is now at its lowest level since October 2023. Meanwhile, access to food continues to deteriorate and prices soar on the black market: gas increased by 2,612%, gasoline by 1,315% and wood by 250%, according to the report.
