The world's leading authority on food crises says the spread of famine's been averted in the Gaza Strip. But they say the situation remains critical with the entire Palestinian territory facing starvation. The new report was issued on Friday by The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC. The report comes months after the IPC said that famine was occurring in Gaza City and was likely to spread across the territory. The report notes improvements in food security and nutrition following an October ceasefire and no famine has been detected. It warns the situation remains fragile. The IPC says all of Gaza will be classified an emergency with nearly 2,000 people facing catastrophic levels of hunger through April.
The world's leading authority on hunger crises says famine has spread to two regions of war-torn Sudan. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification says famine is happening in el-Fasher, a major city in the Darfur region, and in Kadugli, a town in the South Kordofan province. Paramilitary forces rampaged through the besieged el-Fasher last week, reportedly killing hundreds of people. Sudan has been torn apart since April 2023 by a power struggle between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The United Nations says more than 40,000 people have been killed, but aid groups believe the true number could be much higher.
Gaza's population is facing the "worst-case scenario of famine" and "widespread death" will occur without immediate action, the leading international authority on food crises has warned. Tuesday's alert by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification — which is still short of a formal famine declaration — follows an outcry over images of emaciated children in Gaza after nearly 22 months of war. The IPC said Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years, but recent developments, including "increasingly stringent blockades" by Israel, have "dramatically worsened" the situation.
U.N. officials, aid groups and experts have warned for months that Palestinians in Gaza are on the brink of famine without formally declaring one. Even though Israel eased a 2 1/2-month blockade on the territory in May, aid groups say only a trickle of assistance is getting into the enclave. Palestinians face catastrophic levels of hunger 21 months into Israel's offensive, which was launched after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. The leading international authority on hunger crises has warned of famine, but has not yet obtained data that would meet its conditions for declaring one.
