Gaza in a famine .. The first United Nations declaration of its kind in the Middle East

The United Nations officially announced famine in Gaza on Friday, in the first declaration of this kind in the Middle East, after its experts warned that 500,000 people were in a “catastrophic” situation and held Israel responsible for obstructing the entry of aid.

“It was a famine that could have been avoided if we were able to do so. However, food aid is accumulated at the border due to the systematic obstruction practiced by Israel,” said Under -Secretary -General Tom Fletcher.

This declaration raised the ire of Israel, which denounced its bias and based on “the lies of Hamas”, confirming “no famine in Gaza”, according to its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After warning for months that the famine is overwhelmed in the Palestinian sector, the integrated phased classification of food security, which is an international body based in Rome, confirmed that famine is rampant in Gaza Governorate and is expected to spread in Deir Al -Balah and Khan Yunis by late September.

Gaza Governorate constitutes about 20 %of the Palestinian sector area, and if we add Khan Yunis (29.5 %) and Deir Al -Balah (16 %), the total area is 65.5 %, or about two -thirds of the Gaza Strip, which extends at 365 square kilometers and where more than two million people live.

United Nations experts warned that more than half a million people in Gaza are facing “catastrophic” conditions, the highest level in the classification known as “IBC” and is characterized by famine and death.

It is estimated that this number, which is based on collected information until August 15, will rise to about 641,000 by the end of September.

IBC concluded that this deterioration is the worst of its kind since the start of the evaluation of the conditions in Gaza.

As a result of the escalation of Israeli operations

This international body considers that famine occurs at the concerted three factors, which are at least 20 % of families (a family of every five) facing a severe shortage of food and 30 % of children under at least five (one in three) suffer from severe malnutrition, as well as the death of at least two people in every 10 thousand hunger at a daily rate.

This situation is the result of the escalation of military operations in recent months, which led to a great displacement in light of restricting access to food aid by a decision of the Israeli authorities.

At the beginning of March, Israel imposed a full ban on the entry of aid to Gaza, before it allowed in late May to enter very limited quantities of supplies, causing great scarcity in food, medicines and fuel.

Israel, which controls all of the Gaza outlets, accuses Hamas of looting aid, which Hamas denies. Israel also claims that humanitarian organizations do not distribute aid, while the latter considers that excessive Israeli restrictions on transferring aid make their distribution very dangerous in war conditions.

The Hamas attack on the Hebrew state killed 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to a census of Agence France -Presse based on official statements.

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli military operations have caused the killing of at least 62192 people, the majority of them civilians, according to the latest figures of the Hamas Ministry of Health.