Famine looming in north Gaza: UN-backed report

Rome: Famine is looming in the northern Gaza Strip amid increased hostilities and a near halt in food aid, a UN backed assessment said Saturday. Th...

Rome: Famine is looming in the northern Gaza Strip amid increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid, a UN-backed assessment said Saturday.

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 345,000, or 16 percent 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."