New famine warning for Gaza: Families have to go without food for days

According to the latest UN-supported Integrated Phased Food Security (IPC) report, 96 percent of the population – around 2.15 million people – are affected by acute food insecurity at crisis level or higher – IPC 3 (read our IPC explanation here).

This number includes almost half a million people facing “catastrophic” conditions (IPC 5), the IPC update said – underscoring the “high risk” of famine throughout the Gaza Strip “as long as the conflict continues and humanitarian access is restricted”.

Access critical

At the same time, the update pointed to a “slight improvement” in food security in the northern governorates of the Gaza Strip, where possible famine was feared at the end of May.

“The improvement shows the difference that better access can make,” the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in response to the IPC findings. “Increased food deliveries to the North and nutrition services have helped alleviate the worst of the famine and still desperate situation.”

No centimeter is safe

There are “no safe inches left” in the Gaza Strip, where martial law continues to be violated at the expense of the population of the devastated enclave and humanitarian organizations, a UN aid official said on Tuesday.

Speaking to journalists in Geneva after her second mission to Gaza, Yasmina Guerda of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the delivery of aid had become a “daily puzzle” that left malnourished children without the life-saving help they need.

“Direct observation on site every day is that there are no safe centimeters left in Gaza. You can’t be anywhere and be sure that no attack will be made on you that night.,” She said.

After nearly nine months of intense Israeli bombardment and ground operations triggered by the Hamas-led terrorist attacks and the October 7 hostage crisis, the basic needs of Gaza residents are greater than ever. They were forced to immediately leave their homes following repeated evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military.

“You have 10 to 15 minutes to leave your building because it is being bombed. Your children are sleeping in the room next door.” said Mrs Guerda.

“You have to decide in a split second what to pack, what is essential and how do you define what is essential? Birth certificates, ID cards, baby food… This is a story I have heard again and again from people who have fled Gaza City, Jabalia, Khan Younis, Deir Al-Balah and now of course Rafah.”

More than 35 displaced people were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a UNRWA-run school in Nuseirat, central Gaza.

Nuseirat Nightmare

The UN humanitarian envoy recalled the Israeli military operation two weeks ago to free four Israeli hostages in Nuseirat in the center of the Gaza Strip, which, according to local health authorities, left hundreds dead and injured. He stressed, however, that residents of the neighborhood had received no such warning.

“They were about to have a meal with what they had caught that day when The bombing began and lasted a full two hours, tank shells and gunfire. We were working a few kilometers away and the walls, doors and windows of our building were shaking. We didn’t know what was happening, we only found out later.”

After the attack, Ms. Guerda described how she went to the field hospital and found children who had lost limbs and were “staring into space, too shocked to make a sound or shed a tear“For those who survived the bombing of their neighborhood because they fled in time, this is only the beginning of the nightmare.”

Providing humanitarian assistance to these survivors and the more than one million people displaced from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip within 10 to 14 days remains extremely difficult, particularly since the Israeli military operation closed the key border crossing in early May, the OCHA official continued.

“Delivering aid to Gaza is a daily puzzle in every way. You know, the daily fighting, the lack of absolutely everything you need, the regular attacks on our storage facilities, the many bureaucratic hurdles, the poor internet, the weak phone networks, the destroyed roads, you name it.

“We spend hours waiting at checkpoints, coordinating and compromising to get through.”

Concern over ‘crackdown’ on anti-war protesters

In a related development, a leading independent human rights expert expressed concern about the recent “violent crackdown” on anti-war protesters on campuses in the US, who called for a ceasefire and a review of their institutions’ ties to Israel.

“What is worrying is the unequal treatment of those who express their opinions,” said Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education.

“Pro-Palestinian protesters, including Jewish students, face disproportionately harsh reactions, allegedly because of anti-Semitic views Criticism of the State of Israel is mixed with anti-Semitism”, she told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.

The independent expert, who does not work for the UN, noted that all governments “must prohibit incitement to violence, hostility or discrimination,” but at the same time stressed that expressing critical political opinions is not a reason for restricting freedom of expression.