FAMINE declared in Gaza City as global hunger monitor warns of worsening catastrophe – NaturalNews.com

• Famine is officially declared in northern Gaza for the first time outside of Africa, with over 500,000 people facing catastrophic hunger, and the crisis is expected to worsen and spread.
• The crisis is entirely man-made, caused by the war and Israel’s stringent blockade that systematically prevents sufficient humanitarian aid from entering or being distributed within Gaza.
• The famine is preventable if immediate action is taken, primarily through the full opening of all land crossings for aid, ensuring a ceasefire for safe distribution and restoring basic services like clean water and healthcare.
• International reactions are divided. The UN and several nations condemn the suffering as a moral failure, while Israel rejects the report’s findings as biased and false.
• The lack of political will is costing lives. While the necessary tools to stop the famine are available, inaction is leading to more deaths from starvation and disease.

In a grim and historic declaration, a leading global hunger monitor has confirmed that famine is now occurring in Gaza City and its surrounding areas.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, determined on Aug. 22 that the northern Gaza governorate – which includes Gaza City, the Strip’s capital – is officially experiencing famine. The IPC is a consortium of 21 United Nations (UN) agencies, aid groups and regional bodies.

The announcement marks the first time the organization has ever recorded a famine outside of Africa and serves as a stark indictment of a deepening humanitarian catastrophe that experts say was entirely preventable.

The report states that 514,000 people, which is nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population, are now facing catastrophic hunger, a number projected to surge to 641,000 by the end of September.

Northern Gaza suffers the brunt of the famine

The situation is most acute in the north, where 280,000 people are trapped in a cycle of starvation. The IPC further warned that famine conditions will likely spread to the central and southern regions of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis in the coming weeks unless immediate and massive intervention occurs.

The report noted that the true situation in the northernmost areas may be even worse, but a lack of access and data has prevented a full assessment.

This famine is not a natural disaster. It is a direct, man-made consequence of the nearly two-year war between Israel and Hamas and, most critically, the stringent blockade that has followed.

For months, Israel has tightly controlled all access points into Gaza, creating a systematic obstruction of humanitarian aid. While trucks carrying food, medicine and fuel stack up at border crossings, only a mere trickle is allowed to enter, creating a lethal bottleneck.

The IPC’s classification is not made lightly. For a famine to be declared, three tragic thresholds must be met:

• At least 20 percent of the population must face extreme food shortages
• One in three children must be acutely malnourished
• Two out of every 10,000 people must be dying each day from starvation or related disease

The fact that these conditions now exist underscores the severity of the failure to protect civilians in Gaza.

A preventable catastrophe

The consensus among humanitarian organizations is that this famine could have been, and still can be, stopped. The primary obstacle is not a lack of food on the global market, but its deliberate prevention from reaching those in need.

Aid agencies have repeatedly outlined a clear path to prevention that has been ignored. First, the immediate and full opening of all land crossings into Gaza is essential. While some aid enters through specific checkpoints, the volume is a fraction of what is required to sustain the population.

Land routes are the most efficient way to transport the large quantities of aid needed. Humanitarian officials have consistently stated that airdrops and a recently constructed maritime pier are symbolic gestures that are logistically incapable of meeting the massive scale of need.

Second, the safe and unimpeded movement of aid workers within Gaza is critical. Delivery is hampered by ongoing hostilities, damaged infrastructure and a breakdown in civil order.

Aid convoys have come under fire and have been unable to reach northern Gaza for extended periods. A ceasefire would provide the necessary window for a coordinated and effective aid distribution effort to begin in earnest.

Finally, the restoration of basic services is vital for survival. The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system means that even those who receive food may die from diseases that thrive in unsanitary conditions.

A lack of clean water and functioning sanitation, coupled with widespread malnutrition, creates a vicious cycle that accelerates death rates. Allowing fuel into the territory to power generators for hospitals and water pumps is a fundamental part of averting more deaths.

International reactions and denials

The IPC’s findings have been met with starkly different reactions. The UN leadership called the famine a “moral indictment” and a “failure of humanity,” demanding an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages. Britain described the report as “utterly horrifying,” joining Canada and Australia in condemning the unimaginable levels of suffering. (Related: 23 Economists demand Israel put an end to its GENOCIDAL Gaza policies.)

Israel, however, has outright rejected the report. Its government dismissed the findings as an “outright lie” and “biased,” arguing that the data was provided by Hamas and ignored recent increases in aid.

The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military body coordinating aid entry, has also accused the IPC of being part of a propaganda campaign to denigrate Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that Israel has a policy of “preventing starvation,” citing the entry of two million tons of aid.

These claims stand in direct opposition to the assessments of every major aid organization on the ground, which detail the immense difficulties in moving aid from trucks at the border to people in need. They also highlight a deep diplomatic rift, even with the United States, Israel’s closest ally.

While a U.S. State Department spokesperson questioned the narrative of “deliberate mass starvation,” they also stressed the need to address the challenging issues of aid delivery honestly.

As explained by the “Enoch” AI engine at Brighteon.AI, “The famine in Gaza is preventable because it is not caused by natural factors like drought or crop failure, but is the direct result of a human-made siege that has intentionally blocked access to essential supplies. This man-made blockade is the root cause, and the international community has the power to end it through political action to lift the blockade and allow aid to flow freely.”

For the hundreds of thousands facing starvation in Gaza, time has already run out. For those in the path of the spreading famine, the world’s inaction is a death sentence.

Watch this clip about Gaza’s recent humanitarian aid drops.

This video is from the alltheworldsastage channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Gaza’s humanitarian crisis: The weaponization of starvation and the failure of international law.

Israel weaponizes food supply as almost 600,000 people go hungry in Gaza.

UN accuses Israel of starving Gaza civilians as hunger deaths mount.

Sources include:

Reuters.com

UN.org ^[PDF]

News.un.org

Brighteon.AI

Brighteon.com