ROME,
June 26 (Xinhua) -- The entire Gaza Strip is at high risk of famine, the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned on Wednesday.
The alarm was raised as
a new report has shown that almost the entire population is facing "acute
food insecurity, with 1 in 5 Gazans being on the verge of famine," FAO
stated.
Around 459,000 people in
Gaza (22 percent) are in a state of "catastrophic food insecurity,"
while almost the entire population (96 percent) is facing "crisis levels of
acute food insecurity or higher," according to the paper published by the
Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Global Initiative.
The situation is a
result of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and current restrictions on
humanitarian convoys into Gaza.
Commenting on the latest
findings at a press conference in New York, FAO chief economist Maximo Torero
said the agency had observed a high risk of famine over the last eight months.
"The relentless hostilities ... as well as limited access to those in need
of urgent humanitarian aid have had severe impacts on the entire population in
Gaza," he said.
Despite some recent
improvements in the flow and access to food and water in northern Gaza, the
situation remains very fragile, and vulnerable to a rapid deterioration into
famine, he added. While intense ground operations in northern Gaza continue,
forced displacement of people could exacerbate the food security situation in
the whole Gaza Strip.
"With some 96
percent of the population facing ... acute food insecurity, any deterioration
may push more people into catastrophic levels of hunger," the FAO chief
economist stressed. "(This would happen) For example, if the level of
permits and access of humanitarian trucks to Gaza declines and does not
increase substantially."
The FAO is scaling up
efforts to prepare essential food production inputs for transportation to Gaza
by mobilizing advanced procurement arrangements, once access is granted. It has
appealed for around 40 million U.S. dollars, of which 29 million would be
allocated to Gaza and 11 million to the West Bank.
Before the conflict,
agriculture provided 20-30 percent of daily consumption, but more than 57
percent of agricultural land in Gaza has been damaged as of May 2024, the FAO
said.