Sounding the Alarm on the Starvation of Gaza

Famine is riding into Gaza at a full gallop.

The level of acute food insecurity in Gaza has become catastrophic, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released today:

Between 24 November and 7 December, over 90 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.08 million people) was estimated to face high levels of acute food insecurity, classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse). Among these, over 40 percent of the population (939,000 people) were in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and over 15 percent (378,000 people) were in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).

Nearly 400,000 people were already in famine conditions at the start of this month, and almost a million more were in the next worst phase. That’s 1.3 million people that were suffering from famine or being one step away from it. This is already one of the most severe cases of extreme hunger in decades, and it is the direct result of the war and the siege. The rest of the IPC’s report is even more alarming:

Between 8 December 2023 and 7 February 2024, the entire population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.2 million people) is classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse). This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country. Among these, about 50 percent of the population (1.17 million people) is in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and at least one in four households (more than half a million people) is facing catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5, Catastrophe) [bold mine-DL]. These are characterized by households experiencing an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities.

Dalmar Ainashe of CARE International pointed out how extreme the conditions are in Gaza compared to other crises in the world: “Prior to this current conflict, the worldwide count of people in IPC Phase 5 was only 128,600. Now, this number is four times higher due to the dangerous conditions in Gaza.” The speed and scale of this disaster have no recent parallels. Unless there is a dramatic change in policy, the number of people experiencing the worst conditions will continue to grow. Famine is riding into Gaza at a full gallop.

Conditions have deteriorated so quickly because of the Israeli government’s siege. As Sarah Roy reminds us in her recent NYRB article, “For the past ten weeks, with the exception of a one-week “humanitarian pause,” Gaza has been under a total siege; Israel has virtually halted the entry of fuel and restricted the entry of food, among other critical necessities.” The results have been predictable. The head of Oxfam responded to the IPC report, saying, “Gaza’s shocking descent into starvation was so predictable as to be premeditated; an ongoing war crime by the Government of Israel.”

When the Biden administration threw its full support behind this campaign, it was endorsing the siege and the collective punishment it was intended to inflict on the people of Gaza. The U.S. shares in the blame for the crimes that the Israeli government is committing against innocent people. Our leaders need to be held accountable for their part in this catastrophe along with the Israeli political and military leaders responsible for these policies.

Right now the priority has to be pressing for an end to the war and the siege before more innocent lives are lost to hunger, disease, and bombs. The IPC report is a blaring siren warning the world about what is being done to the people of Gaza. If it does not spur the governments of the world to take appropriate action, no one can say that we didn’t know what was happening.