The body of the food crisis declares the first famine in Gaza

The famine of the Gaza Strip Strip now takes over the famine, according to the main authority of the world in food crisis. The integrated food security phase classification, or IPC, said Friday that the famine was occurring in the city of Gaza and that this would probably extend to the cities of southern Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah without the stop the fire and the end of the restrictions on humanitarian aid.

Help groups and food security experts have warned for months that Gaza was on the verge of famineBut the CPI report It is the first official statement that the situation has reached this level. Israel immediately rejected the evaluation of the CPI, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeating a claim that has made for months, that “there is no famine in Gaza”.

But the CPI, which is composed of more than a dozen UN agencies, aid groups, governments and other organisms and was first established in 2004 during the famine in Somalia, said he had concluded based on “reasonable evidence” that the famine “is confirmed in the Gaza Government.”

“After 22 months of relentless conflictMore than half a million people in the Gaza Strip face catastrophic conditions characterized by hunger, homelessness and death, “the group said, warning that 1.07 million more people in Gaza were currently in a slightly lower risk of starring risk, and that circumstances would probably expand within the territory of Palestinian Palestinian densely populated.

“Between mid-August and the end of September, 2025, conditions are expected to get worse with the projected hunger to expand to Deir Al-Balah and Khan Young hundred).

The CPI said at least for next year: “It is expected that at least 132,000 children under five years of Children with the highest risk of death“

In a separate statement, Tom Fletcher, who runs the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, said that the “systematic obstruction” of Israel’s help had caused the famine in Gaza.

“It is a famine that we could have avoided if they had allowed us. However, food accumulates at the borders due to systematic obstruction by Israel,” Fletcher told journalists in Geneva, calling him “a famine that will persecute us all.”

Israel insists that “there is no famine in Gaza”

In a statement, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically rejected the reports of the report backed by UNU.

“There is no hunger in Gaza,” said the ministry, accusing the CPI of presenting a report “based on lies of washed Hamas through organizations with created interests.”

“More than 100,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the beginning of the war, and in recent weeks a massive help of help has flooded the strip with basic foods and has caused a strong decrease in food prices, which have collapsed in the markets,” the ministry said.

While more humanitarian aid has been allowed in Gaza in recent weeks, since Israel has had intense international pressure, help organizations say it is not close to the required amount. A new and controversial help distribution group with US support. And Israelí has ​​also been criticized by the Murder of numerous civilians Near its four distribution centers in Gaza.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has also repeatedly denied that there is a generalized hunger in Gaza, calling the reports of “lies” promoted by Hamas.

Cogat, the Israeli military agency in charge of transferring help to Gaza, said the report was “false and partial.” He said that in recent weeks significant measures had been taken to expand the amount of help that enters the strip.

What does a famine classification mean?

The famine may appear in the pockets, sometimes small, so a formal classification requires caution, says food security experts. The CPI has only confirmed the famine several times: in Somalia in 2011, and South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and last year in parts of the Western Darfur region of Sudan. This is the first famine confirmed in the Middle East.

The IPC qualifies an area as in the famine when the three conditions are confirmed:

• 20% of households have extreme lack of food, or are essentially hungry.

• At least 30% of children from 6 months to 5 years suffer from acute malnutrition, based on a weight measurement; or 15% of that age group suffers from acute malnutrition based on the circumference of their upper arm.

• At least two people, or four children under 5 years old, for 10,000 are dying daily due to the starvation or interaction of malnutrition and disease.

Gaza has raised a great challenge for experts because Israel severely limits access to the territory, which makes it difficult to collect and confirm data.

In a separate report on Friday, the famine review committee, or FRC, also said it had concluded that there was famine in part of Gaza. The FRC is a group of independent international food security experts consulted by the CPI.

The group acts as an additional verification layer when the data shows that there could be famine.

The data analyzed between July 1 and August 15 showed clear evidence that the thresholds for acute hunger and malnutrition have been reached, according to the CPI. Collecting data for mortality has been more difficult, but the CPI said that it is reasonable to conclude from the evidence that the necessary threshold has probable.

Most cases of severe malnutrition in children arise through a combination of lack of nutrients along with an infection, which leads to diarrhea and other symptoms that cause dehydration, said Alex de Waal, author of “Mass Starvation: the history and future of the famine” and the executive director of the World Peace Foundation.

“There are no standard guidelines for doctors to classify the cause of death as ‘malnutrition’ instead of infection,” he said.