‘People are starving to death’: Famine ‘imminent’ in northern Gaza, experts warn

Famine is “imminent” in the north of the Gaza Strip, with hundreds of thousands of people now facing  “catastrophic” levels of hunger, an international body that monitors food crises has warned.

Just two declarations of famine have been made in the last decade – in Somalia, in 2011, and South Sudan, in 2017 – but experts believe the deadly phenomenon will arrive in Gaza’s two northern districts between now and May.

The warning has been issued by the UN’s hunger monitoring system, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, which said it expects to see a steep rise in malnutrition-related deaths among Gazan children in the months ahead.

So far, at least 10 children have died as a result of starvation, according to the UN. These deaths were reported in the north of Gaza, where 300,000 people remain trapped.

In a report published on Monday, the IPC also said half the enclave’s population, equivalent to 1.1 million people, is facing “catastrophic” hunger and food insecurity. This is nearly double the figure reported in December.

“People in Gaza are starving to death right now. The speed at which this man-made hunger and malnutrition crisis has ripped through Gaza is terrifying,” said Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Programme.

“There is a very small window left to prevent an outright famine and to do that we need immediate and full access to the north. If we wait until famine has been declared, it’s too late. Thousands more will be dead.”

Famine is a highly technical specification that experts are hesitant to declare.

It occurs when an area has at least 20 percent of households facing an extreme lack of food, at least 30 percent of children suffering from acute malnutrition, and two people – or four children – for every 10,000 dying each day due to outright starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.

The IPC analysis said famine could still be avoided if Israel and Hamas stop fighting and aid organisations gain increased access to the enclave, home to 2.3 million people.

“The actions needed to prevent famine require an immediate political decision for a ceasefire together with a significant and immediate increase in humanitarian and commercial access to the entire population of Gaza,” it said.

The WFP estimates that simply addressing the basic food needs will require at least 300 trucks to enter Gaza every day and distribute food, particularly in the north, where the WFP has only managed to take nine convoys since the start of the year.

Over the weekend, Unicef said that 1 in 3 children under two years of age were acutely malnourished in the north. Prior to Israel’s invasion, this figure stood at 0.8 per cent for all children under five.

Dalmar Ainashe, a senior technical advisor at CARE International UK, a charity that delivers humanitarian aid to fight poverty, called the unfolding food crisis in Gaza “unparalleled in speed, scale, and severity.”

He added: “The swift plunge into famine and the vast human suffering and anguish in Gaza is unmatched, emphasising the need for urgent, extensive, and sustained humanitarian response.”

On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused Israel of “provoking” famine and using starvation as a weapon of war. 

He added: “It’s a graveyard for tens of thousands of people and also a graveyard for many of the most important principles of humanitarian law.”

Israel rejected the claims, saying it does not target civilians and is only interested in eliminating Hamas.

The UN introduced the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system, known as the IPC scale, in 2004. It rates hunger levels from one to five and is used by the UN or governments in deciding whether or not to declare a famine.

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