The UN and other aid providers have not yet declared a state of famine in the Gaza Strip, although conditions in the Palestinian territory have worsened since October 7, when the war and Hamas attacks on Israel began.
But “when famine is declared, it is already too late for many people,” said Jens Laerke, representative of the UN humanitarian aid agency OCHA.
“We don’t want to get into that situation and before that we need things to change,” he told a brief news conference in Geneva.
About 1,160 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attack by the Islamist group Hamas in Israel, according to an AFP assessment based on official figures.
After vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive that killed at least 30,228 people, mostly women and children, in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run territory.
Humanitarian agencies say that 2.2 million people living in the Gaza Strip. the conditions of the people at present are appalling.
“We need to pay attention to what is being said more and more loudly regarding the food security situation in the entire Gaza Strip, especially in the north,” Mr. Laerke said.
“If nothing changes, famine is almost inevitable on current trends,” he added.
When famine was officially declared in Somalia in 2011, half of all victims of the disaster had already died of starvation.
Mr Laerke cited an almost total ban on commercial food imports, “an influx of food aid trucks” and “massive restrictions on access to Palestinian territory”.
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2024-04-20 23:01:42