According to an estimate supported by the UN, over 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza continue to experience "catastrophic levels" of hunger, and as long as the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on and humanitarian access is blocked, there is a "high risk" of famine.
The information that is presently available, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, does not suggest that there is a famine taking place in the northern part of the Palestinian territories.
According to the March assessment, one was expected soon in the region.
Since then, more food and other help have been let into the north, and improvements have been made to nutrition, water, sanitation, and health care, according to the study.
However, it cautions that since Israel began a military campaign in the city of Rafah in early May, the closing of the Rafah border crossing and the forced displacement of over a million people from Rafah have severely decreased the amount of food available in the south and central Gaza.
The study, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), "paints a stark picture of ongoing hunger" and emphasizes how vital it is to maintain humanitarian access.
UN authorities have attributed the state of affairs to the collapse of law and order, the continuous conflicts, and Israeli military limitations on humanitarian relief supplies.
Israel maintains that supplies may be sent into and across Gaza without any restrictions, and it holds UN organizations accountable for their inability to do so. Also, it charges Hamas of stealing assistance, a claim the organization refutes.
In response to an enormous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7 that resulted in over 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages, the Israeli military began a campaign to eliminate Hamas.
Since then, the health ministry in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas, has reported over 37,650 deaths in the region.
The main tool used by the international community to determine if a famine is occurring is the International Peacekeeping (IPC), a worldwide endeavor involving governments, relief organizations, and UN agencies.
A household is categorized as being in IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe) if there is a severe food shortage, famine, or a lack of coping mechanisms.
Evidence of at least 20% of households in Phase 5, 30% of children experiencing acute malnutrition, and two deaths per 10,000 people, or four child deaths per 10,000 people per day, “due to outright starvation or to the interaction of malnutrition and disease” are required before a famine can be officially declared in a given area.
Thirty percent of Gaza's population, or 677,000 individuals, were classed as being in Phase 5 by the IPC in March. Of them, 165,000 were imprisoned in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Additionally, it predicted that violence and the almost total absence of humanitarian access would cause a famine to be "imminent" in the north by the end of May.
Israel disagreed with the conclusion, casting doubt on the IPC's openness, methodology, and informational sources.
More than 495,000 Gazans, including 60,000 in the north, are reportedly still suffering from catastrophic hunger, according to the IPC assessment released on Tuesday.
The statement reads, "The amount of food and non-food commodities allowed into the northern governorates increased, in contrast with the assumptions made for the projection period (March – July 2024)".
Furthermore, a greater emphasis was placed on nutrition, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and health in the response. The data that is presently available in this situation does not suggest that famine is happening.
It says that while 20% of families in the north are thought to be in Phase 5, acute malnutrition and mortality criteria have not been reached.
The World Health Organization said earlier this month that local health authorities had documented 32 malnutrition-related fatalities, including 28 deaths among children under five.
The IPC report cautions that while there has been some improvement in April and May, there is still "a high and sustained risk of famine across the whole Gaza Strip" and that "complacency should not be allowed."
Although the WFP emphasized that the situation was "still desperate," it added that the "slight improvement" shown in the IPC report demonstrated the impact that more access might make.
"Adequate and sustained levels of humanitarian assistance must be provided in order to truly turn the corner and prevent famine," it continued.
Concurrently, the chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) informed reporters in Geneva that, on average, the conflict was causing at least 10 children each day to lose one or both of their legs.
According to Philippe Lazzarini, the number did not include children who had lost their hands or arms. He also said that the amputations often happened in "quite horrible conditions" and sometimes without the use of anesthesia.
Around twenty-four persons, including the sister of Hamas's political commander Ismail Haniyeh, who is based in Qatar, were allegedly killed in three Israeli airstrikes that occurred early on Tuesday in northern Gaza.
According to health authorities speaking to the Reuters news agency, two schools in Gaza City's downtown Daraj neighborhood and the urban Shati refugee camp to the north were attacked, killing fourteen people. The schools were being utilized as shelters by displaced persons.
near a statement, the Israeli military said that planes had hit "two structures that were being used by Hamas terrorists" near Daraj and Shati.
It also said, "The terrorists operated inside school compounds that were used by Hamas as a shield for its terrorist activities," and it named specific individuals who were implicated in the assault on October 7 and in the hostage-taking.
Hamas has repeatedly denied any military use of schools.
It was said that the remaining ten individuals perished in an early-morning attack on a Shati home. Nine members of Zahr Haniyeh's family and her sister Ismail Haniyeh were among the deceased, according to a neighbor and Palestinian media.
Mr. Haniyeh, who also lost three of his sons and a number of grandkids in an April hit, said that Hamas would not alter its position in response to the murder of his family members and reiterated the organization's calls for a truce and an agreement to free the hostages.
As of right now, the Israeli military has not responded to the claims.
Meanwhile, Médecins Sans Frontières condemned the "horrific and cynical" assault in Gaza City on Tuesday morning that claimed the life of one of its employees.
Without pointing the finger at anybody, the organization said that physiotherapist Fadi al-Wadiya was murdered together with five other individuals, three of whom were children, while cycling to the MSF clinic where he worked.
Later, the Israeli military claimed to have killed Fadi al-Wadiya in an airstrike and named him as a “significant [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad terrorist” who was responsible for creating the missile array for the organization.
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