Follow-up – Al-Rashid
The United Nations World Food Program revealed on Monday that residents of the Gaza Strip are suffering from “unprecedented” levels of “famine-simulating conditions” as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.
A statement from the International Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) quoted the organization’s Deputy Director-General, Beth Bechdol, as saying, “There are unprecedented levels of acute food insecurity, hunger, and conditions simulating famine in Gaza.”
Bekdol added, according to the statement: “We see every day an increasing number of people approaching conditions simulating famine.”
She noted that “all of Gaza’s 2.2 million people are classified among the three worst levels of hunger, from level three, which is considered an emergency, to level five, which is considered a disaster.” The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) divides levels of hunger from One to five.
“At this stage, about 25% of this number of 2.2 million people may be classified in the fifth category,” Bekdol said.
Bekdol explained that before the war, Gazans had “a self-sufficient fruit and vegetable production sector full of greenhouses, and they also had a strong livestock sector.”
She continued, “We realized through a damage assessment that most of these livestock, as well as the infrastructure necessary for this agricultural production, were destroyed.”
About 550,000 people face catastrophic levels of food insecurity, while the crisis affects the entire population of the Strip, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The war in the Gaza Strip entered its 129th day, with violent bombardment and clashes in the southern city of Rafah, densely populated and displaced, amid international and UN warnings and fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
