Gaza Strip famine
The population of the Gaza Strip is facing starvation and famine as a result of Israeli airstrikes during the Israel–Hamas war and an Israeli blockade, including of basic essentials and humanitarian aid.[4][5][6] Airstrikes have destroyed food infrastructure, such as bakeries, mills, and food stores, and there is a widespread scarcity of essential supplies due to the blockade of aid.[c] A survey in May 2024 suggested 85% of children under five in Gaza spent entire days without food.[8] This situation has caused starvation for more than half a million Gazans and is part of a broader humanitarian crisis in the Strip. Describing an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report in March, António Guterres said it was the "highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger" recorded on the IPC scale since its inception in 2004.[9][10] Leading famine scholar Alex de Waal said in March that we "are about to witness" the most intense man-made famine since the Second World War.[11][12][13]
Gaza Strip famine
- Israeli blockade and limitation of aid
- Destruction of food and water infrastructure
- Complications in deliveries due to war and looting
- 96% of population facing food insecurity
- 495,000 facing near-famine hunger[3]
In March, there were projections through July of 2024 that the entire population in the Gaza Strip was classified in IPC Phase 3 - Crisis, or above.[14] 38% of the population was in IPC Phase 4 - Emergency, and 50% was in IPC Phase 5 - Catastrophe, with the risk of famine imminent.[15][16] According to Oxfam, the levels of starvation in Gaza were the "highest ever recorded on the IPC scale, both in terms of number of people and percentage of the population".[17] In early March 2024, Gaza met at least two of the three conditions for an IPC-designated famine. Due to the lack of media and humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, particularly the northern region, the IPC Analysis Team was not able to determine whether the final threshold - a crude death rate above 2 per 10,000 per day - had been met.[18][19] A US State Department official said that a famine was probably present in some parts of northern Gaza in late March,[20] and USAID Administrator Samantha Power called the assessment that a famine is occurring in parts of Gaza "credible" during a congressional hearing on 10 April.[21] A USAID report leaked to Devex on 26 April called famine in Gaza "inevitable" and said in its title that "changes [in Israeli policy] could reduce but not stop widespread civilian deaths."[22] In May 2024, the head of the World Food Programme stated there was "full-blown famine" in northern Gaza.[23]
Although the Center for Strategic and International Studies reported there was evidence that Gazans, particularly in the northern governates of Gaza, were experiencing famine in April, they said that global leaders did not issue a formal declaration of famine.[24] An updated Famine Review Committee (FRC) report for the IPC from May 2024 regarding April 2024 and projection through July 2024 found that it could not endorse a Phase 5 (Famine) classification under the Famine Early Warning system, but principally due to "the lack of essential up to date data on human well-being in Northern Gaza, and Gaza at large" in the absence of field surveys.[25] In June 2024, the IPC Global Famine Review Committee released a report that said it was unknown whether famine thresholds had been passed in April and that there was no evidence of current famine in Gaza based on its surveys of households. It said that conditions in northern Gaza had improved due to increased aid and sanitation efforts and that civilians faced extreme suffering, high famine risk, and needed sustainable aid.[26]
In March 2024, Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, stated that Israel's restrictions on the entry of aid may constitute starvation as a weapon of war, which would be a war crime.[27][28] An Independent International Commission of Inquiry also found Israel was using starvation as a method of war.[29] The Israeli government has denied it is using starvation as a weapon of war and said that arguments that its actions regarding the famine violate the Genocide Convention are "wholly unfounded".[30] COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for allowing aid into Gaza, has stated Israel was not putting limits into the amount of aid entering Gaza.[31] COGAT's claim has been challenged by multiple entities, including the European Union, United Nations, Oxfam, and United Kingdom.[32] Israel has accused Gaza's government of "aid theft";[33] however, US officials said they do not have evidence to support Israel's claims.[34][35] Israel has challenged the IPC's past methodology,[36] citing academics in the Israeli public health sector. An independent study by researchers from Columbia University found that "sufficient amounts of food are being supplied into Gaza", though, "it may not always be distributed to people due to other factors, such as war and Hamas control".[37]
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Growing threat of famine
Cindy McCain stated on 17 November that civilians faced the immediate possibility of starvation.[95] Ten days later, McCain stated Gaza was on the brink of famine,[96] as begging for food became the "new norm."[97] On 7 December, the WFP stated 97% of households had inadequate food consumption and 83% in southern Gaza were surviving through "extreme consumption strategies."[98] By 10 December, the UN, international aid organizations, and relief workers in Gaza warned of mass starvation.[99] A representative for Medical Aid for Palestinians stated, "The hunger wars have started."[100] On 15 December, the United Nations estimated nine out of ten residents were not eating food every day.[101]
The IDF has alleged Hamas stole humanitarian aid;[102] killed people seeking humanitarian aid;[103] and keeps its own supply reserves.[104] The US and the UN both denied Israeli claims that Hamas plays a significant role in causing the famine, with a senior US official stating that "the Israeli government has not brought to the attention of the US government… any specific evidence of Hamas theft or diversion of assistance provided via the U.N. and its agencies. Full stop."[34]
On 20 December, the United Nations stated people in Gaza were experiencing "alarming levels of hunger never before witnessed in Gaza".[105][106] On 21 December, the United Nations stated more than half a million people in the Gaza Strip were starving.[107] On 1 December, an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report, based on a committee of independent experts, placed almost the entire population of Gaza (93% or 2.08 million) at IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse) with 79 percent in Emergency (IPC Phase 4),[108] and 15% (378,000 people) in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).[109] On 22 December, UNICEF warned of the increasingly growing threat of famine in the Gaza Strip.[110] On 29 December, Mercy Corps stated half a million people faced "catastrophic hunger and starvation".[111] By 1 January 2024 ninety percent of Palestinians in Gaza regularly went without food.[112] On 27 February 2024, Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of the World Food Programme, told the United Nations Security Council that more than 500,000 people were at risk of imminent famine in Gaza.[113]
On 30 April 2024, when rendering its verdict in the Nicaragua v. Germany genocide case, the International Criminal Court said that it remained concerned about the situation in Gaza, "In particular, in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they have been subjected".[114] In its March 2024 interim ruling, the ICJ stated, "The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine (...) but that famine is setting in."[115]
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