Gaza has “the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger ever recorded by the Integrated Food Security Classification system — anywhere, anytime.”
In the last five months, Israel’s unparalleled attack and siege on Gaza have resulted in a dire humanitarian catastrophe, with over 75% of the population displaced and forcibly relocated to southern Gaza. Gaza’s residents are experiencing the highest levels of hunger, with parents scavenging through garbage heaps to nourish their children, skipping meals, and even resorting to eating animal feed to stay alive. Every day, children, women, and men across Gaza are killed by Israeli military attacks, as well as by starvation, scarcity of clean water, inadequate access to medications and healthcare services, and the absence of basic hygiene conditions. The situation is particularly grave in the northern Gaza Strip, where 300,000 people are experiencing severe malnutrition – which has already resulted in the deaths of dozens, primarily children. According to UN and Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) reports, over two million people in Gaza face crisis levels of food insecurity, with over a million suffering from "catastrophic" food insecurity – the most severe phase in the IPC index. Twenty-seven children have already reportedly died of malnutrition and dehydration. The toll is expected to increase, with numerous children facing enduring consequences on both their physical and mental development. Last week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the disaster in Gaza as the worst hunger crisis ever recorded by the IPC—"anywhere, anytime." Since its establishment in 2004, the IPC has declared a famine only twice: once in Somalia in 2011 and then again in South Sudan in 2017.