A family from Gaza cooks in their destroyed home. Photo: Ali Jadallah/WFP.
Hostilities, including bombings, ground operations and the siege of the entire population, have led to catastrophic acute food insecurity across the Gaza Strip, which is now at high risk of famine, the food classification report warned on Thursday. Phases of food security are prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP).
About 85% of the population (1.9 million people) are displaced; Many people have had to move several times and are concentrating on an ever smaller area. There is a risk of famine and it is getting worse every day as the current situation with intense clashes and limited humanitarian access continues or worsens, the publication warns.
The specialized agencies said that the intensification of hostilities, greater restrictions on access to food, basic supplies and vital assistance, and the extreme concentration or isolation of people in inadequate shelter or areas without basic services were important factors contributing to increasing the risk. .
More than a quarter of the population suffers from extreme hunger
Currently, 26% of households in Gaza have exhausted their food reserves and capacity and are already suffering from extreme hunger, which will turn into famine if access to adequate food, clean water, and health and sanitation services is not restored, the organizations stressed.
The report contains data from various UN agencies and non-governmental organizations confirming that the entire population of Gaza (approximately 2.2 million people) is already in crisis or worse, an acute crisis of food insecurity.
Catastrophe announced
“The World Food Program has been announcing this impending catastrophe for weeks. “Tragically, without the safe and constant access we have demanded, the situation is desperate and no one in Gaza is safe from hunger,” emphasized the agency’s executive director, Cindy McCain.
According to the study, famine would occur in the next six months if the conflict continues and restrictions on access to humanitarian goods remain in place.
Food aid supplied more than two-thirds of the population before the escalation of hostilities and is now completely inadequate to meet growing needs.
In addition, the conflagration caused widespread damage to food production, including agricultural land and infrastructure such as greenhouses, bakeries and warehouses. Other assets and infrastructure, including sanitation facilities, water treatment facilities, drinking water facilities. They too were damaged or destroyed.
People in Gaza are running out of resources, their livelihoods have collapsed, bakeries are destroyed, shops are empty and families are unable to find food, the report said.
WFP workers have long reported that families often go for days without food and that many adults go hungry to give children what little food they can get.
It is imperative to restore safe and continuous access to help
“These are not just numbers: behind these alarming statistics are children, women and men,” stressed WFP Chief Economist Arif Husain, adding that the complexity, scale and speed at which this crisis has unfolded is unprecedented.
FAO and WFP call for a cessation of hostilities that allows for the resumption of safe and continuous access to humanitarian assistance for the entire population of the Gaza Strip, as well as the restoration of basic services such as electricity, drinking water and health facilities.
“We cannot stand by and watch people starve. We need humanitarian access to maintain the flow of supplies in and through Gaza and so that civilians can safely receive vital assistance,” McCain stressed, adding that what is needed now above all is peace.
“The WFP reiterates the call for a humanitarian ceasefire: the world must unite now to save lives,” he noted.
(Taken from UN News)