The entire population of Gaza is facing an acute hunger crisis, according to a new report by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), making the food shortage in Gaza the worst the group has ever seen.
The IPC report released Thursday finds that all 2.2 million people in Gaza are in what the IPC classifies as Phase 3 food insecurity, or “crisis” level, in which households are facing acute food shortage issues, or higher. This is the highest number of people at this level of food insecurity or worse that the IPC has ever observed, the group said.
Among people in IPC Phase 3 or above, 50 percent are in Phase 4, or “emergency” food insecurity, while a quarter of the population, or about 570,000 people, are in a Phase 5 food “famine.” Phase 5 is the highest level of food insecurity, and is “characterized by households experiencing an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities,” the report says. This phase of hunger began on December 8, and is expected to continue until early February, the IPC found.
“It doesn’t get any worse,’’ Arif Husain, UN World Food Program’s top economist, told the Associated Press. “I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza. And at this speed. How quickly it has happened, in just a matter of two months.”
The report says the reason for the mass hunger is Israel’s blockade of food and other basic supplies like water from entering the region, preventing not just the distribution of food but shutting down farms, bakeries, and other food sources. This blockade, maintained by Israel for over two months, has resulted in virtually every family unit in Gaza skipping at least one meal a day, with some going entire days without eating and many adults going hungry in order to allow children to have food.
The report was prepared by the IPC, which is funded by a number of global organizations like the UN and the EU, as well as aid groups like Save the Children and Oxfam. The report authors call for an immediate “cessation of hostilities” in order to restore humanitarian aid pathways and services like water, electricity, health care, telecommunications, and other critical needs.
“Today’s shocking figures describing the high levels of starvation in Gaza are a direct, damning, and predictable consequence of Israel’s policy choices — and President Biden’s unconditional support and diplomatic approach,” Abby Maxman, President and chief executive of Oxfam America, said in a statement.
“The Biden administration must use all of its influence to achieve an immediate ceasefire to stop the bloodshed, allow for the safe return of hostages to Israel, and allow aid and commercial goods in, so we can save lives now,” Maxman continued. “The U.S. cannot continue to stand by and allow Palestinians to be starved to death.”
The report corroborates findings from Human Rights Watch earlier this week that Israel is using starvation as a “weapon of war.” Using starvation as a method of war is a war crime.
The report finds that Israel is blocking the import of the vast majority of food and is destroying bakeries and all of Gaza’s wheat mills. The blockade of water has made farming “nearly impossible,” with many livestock starving to death and crops going unwatered — and, further, Israel has deliberately razed agricultural land and facilities, including orchards, greenhouses and farmland, the report highlighted.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.