Death imminent in Gaza amid catastrophic food shortage: Global monitor

CAIRO/JERUSALEM/LONDON - Extreme food shortages in parts of the Gaza Strip have already exceeded famine levels, and mass death is now imminent without an immediate ceasefire and a surge of food to areas cut off by fighting, the global hunger monitor said on March 18.

The group, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, whose assessments are relied on by United Nations agencies, said 70 per cent of people in parts of northern Gaza were suffering the most severe level of food shortage, more than triple the 20 per cent threshold to be considered famine.

The IPC said it did not have enough data on death rates, but estimated that residents would be dying at famine scale imminently, defined as two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation, or from malnutrition and disease.

Gaza's Health Ministry has said 27 children and three adults have died so far from malnutrition.

"The actions needed to prevent famine require an immediate political decision for a ceasefire, together with a significant and immediate increase in humanitarian and commercial access to the entire population of Gaza," IPC said.

In all, 1.1 million Gazans, around half the population, were experiencing catastrophic shortages of food, the worst category, with around 300,000 now facing the prospect of famine-scale death rates.