Starvation is just another tool in the genocide – Mark
The UN, which has warned of “almost inevitable” widespread starvation in northern Gaza, uses strict criteria to declare a famine.
In the Jabalia refugee camp north of Gaza City, dozens of children wander around carrying empty pots, looking for anything edible.
Nearly five months after the start of the war, Gazans are despairing at the little humanitarian aid entering the coastal territory, particularly in the north. Some say they resort to eating leaves, or fodder for livestock.
In deciding whether or when to declare a famine, the UN relies on its specialised agencies based in Rome, the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which in turn use the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
The IPC gathers evidence — such as how many households are facing an extreme lack of food — to draw up its Acute Food Insecurity scale, which is then used to inform decisions, such as how resources are allocated.
– What is famine? –
Famine exists in areas where at least one in five households has or is most likely to have an extreme deprivation of food and face starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition.
“If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza,” WFP’s deputy executive director Carl Skau told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
No humanitarian group has been able to provide aid to the area since January 23, as Israel wages war on Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The UN estimates that 2.2 million people, the vast majority of Gaza’s population, are on the brink of famine — particularly in the north, where Israeli forces block aid from entering.
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