The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) expects that more than one million people in the Gaza Strip will face famine and death by mid-July.
This came in a statement regarding its early warning report for the period between June and October 2024 regarding places experiencing a hunger crisis and where acute food insecurity is expected to worsen.
The FAO report indicated that acute food insecurity will worsen further in 18 regions experiencing hunger crises, and stressed the need to provide urgent assistance to prevent hunger, especially in Gaza and Sudan.
The report pointed out that the situation in Mali, Palestine, South Sudan and Sudan continues to raise concerns at the highest level.
Data included in the report showed that 100% of the Gaza Strip’s population of 2.2 million people are in the third level or above, which is known as “crisis” according to the United Nations Integrated Interim Classification for Food Security.
In the statement related to the report, the organization said that the ongoing conflict in Palestine is expected to exacerbate acute hunger, which is currently at a catastrophic level, with famine and deaths, as well as the displacement of the entire population of the Gaza Strip.
The statement added: “More than one million people (nearly half of Gaza’s population) may face starvation and death by mid-July.”
The statement quoted the organization’s Director-General, Zhou Dongyu, as saying, “The frightening predictions that the report focuses on should serve as a warning to all of us. Acting before crises can save lives.”
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, leaving more than 119,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
Israel continues this war despite a decision by the UN Security Council to stop the fighting immediately, and orders from the International Court of Justice to end the invasion of Rafah (south), and to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the miserable humanitarian situation in the Strip.