The first technical assessment by an international organization indicates that hostilities are preventing the collection of data proving that famine is underway in northern Gaza, preventing an official declaration of it.
Famine is likely already underway in northern Gaza, a group of independent experts has warned in a new report.
“It is possible, even likely,” that famine is already plaguing the enclave, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) said in releasing its report on Tuesday.
The ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, and restrictions on humanitarian access to the enclave, have hampered the collection of data to investigate the issue, said the report, the first technical assessment by an international organization.
Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), FEWS NET is an internationally recognized authority on famine that provides timely, evidence-based early warning information on food insecurity .
It also helps inform decisions on humanitarian responses in some of the most food insecure countries in the world.
A famine declaration could be used as evidence before the International Criminal Court (ICC) and/or the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where Israel faces allegations of genocide.
The group said that for a formal statement to be made, data must be available, but it warned that data collection would likely be hampered as long as the war continued.
However, he noted that people are dying from hunger-related causes across the territory and that these conditions will likely persist until at least July if there is no fundamental change in the way food aid is distributed.
Impeded access
The report warns that efforts to increase aid to Gaza are insufficient and urges the Israeli government to act urgently.
This initiative was joined this week by other statements calling for improved humanitarian aid from international agencies.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Tuesday that getting aid to Gaza “has become almost impossible.”
In #Gaza, the delivery of aid has become almost impossible. We are far from where we need to be.
We need all border crossings open. We need safe and unfettered access. We must prioritize humanitarian aid.
My remarks today @A spokesperson Report:
– Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) June 4, 2024
“We are nowhere near where we need to be. We need all border crossings open. We need safe and unfettered access. We must prioritize humanitarian aid,” he wrote on X.
Hanan Balkhy, the World Health Organization’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said the same day that some Gazans were reduced to drinking sewage water and eating animal food.
“Children can barely eat, while trucks are parked outside Rafah,” he said.
The UN has long warned that famine looms in Gaza, with 1.1 million people – around half the population – facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said on Tuesday that access constraints “continue to undermine the safe delivery of vital humanitarian assistance throughout the Gaza Strip” and that conditions “have further deteriorated.” in May.
