Famine looming in north Gaza: U.N.-backed report

Famine looms in Gaza amid hostilities, food aid halt, and deteriorating conditions, with 3,45,000 facing catastrophic food insecurity.

Famine is looming in the northern Gaza Strip amid increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid, a U.N.-backed assessment said on Saturday (November 10, 2024).

The alert from the Famine Review Committee warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip."

"Famine thresholds may have already been crossed or else will be in the near future," said the alert.

On October 17, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophic" food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 3,45,000, or 16% of the population.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report classified that as IPC Phase 5 — a situation when "starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."

“Since that report, conditions have worsened in the north of Gaza, with a collapse of food systems, a drop in humanitarian aid and critical water, sanitation and hygiene conditions,” the committee said.

"It can therefore be assumed that starvation, malnutrition, and excess mortality due to malnutrition and disease, are rapidly increasing in these areas," it read.