Gaza Strip's escalating food crisis: UN reports 'highest level of severe food insecurity ever recorded'
The UN agency, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), released a report on Thursday indicating that the food crisis in Gaza Strip is deteriorating daily. Intense warfare compounds the issues, and limited humanitarian aid only worsens the situation. The entire population, a total of 2.2 million people, is in the grips of hunger. At least 79 percent are confronting life-threatening conditions.
10:28 AM EST, December 22, 2023
"This is the highest percentage of people suffering from severe food insecurity that the IPC has ever identified in any country or region," reads the report.
Based on UN data, almost all households are skipping meals, with four out of five in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and nearly half of the Palestinians displaced to the south going without food for entire days. More than half a million people are living in devastating conditions, equivalent to at least one in four households. By comparison, globally, only a total of 129,000 people face a similar risk.
Of particular concern is the impact on young children under five years old who are dealing with malnutrition, as well as a rising death toll. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are losing their lives due to starvation. IPC reports "Many adults are forgoing food so that the children can eat," and underscores the immediate need to restore humanitarian aid access throughout the region.
