NEW YORK (Dispatches) – One in five people in the Gaza Strip are facing an extreme lack of food as the risk of famine in the Palestinian enclave remains high, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated.
“A high risk of famine persists across Gaza as long as the conflict continues. One in five people in Gaza experience an extreme lack of food. Almost all people in the Strip face high levels of acute food insecurity,” he wrote on the X social media platform.
The WHO chief emphasized that “only an end to the hostilities and immediate, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access can reduce the risk of a famine occurring in the Gaza Strip”.
According to a report released Tuesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a high risk of famine persists in the besieged enclave and the situation “remains catastrophic” as the war continues. Nearly half a million are projected to face catastrophic levels of hunger, the most severe level on the IPC scale where people “experience an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities”, according to the report.
96% of the population of Gaza – more than 2 million people – will face crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of food insecurity through at least the end of September, the report projects. “A high risk of famine persists across the whole of the Gaza Strip as long as conflict continues and humanitarian access is restricted,” the report said. “Only the cessation of hostilities in conjunction with sustained humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip can reduce the risk of a famine occurring in the Gaza Strip,” it added.
Israel has been carrying out heavy bombardment across the Gaza Strip since early October 2023. More than 37,600 Palestinians have been killed and nearly the entire population has been displaced. Almost 86,000 people have also been wounded, according to health officials.
The figures exclude tens of thousands of dead who are believed to be buried in the bombed-out ruins of homes, shops, shelters, and other buildings.
The military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.