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UN News: Starvation Looms for One in Five Gazans, Food Security Assessment Reveals
GAZA/NEW YORK, 12 May 2025 – A stark new assessment released today by leading food security experts warns that approximately one in five people in the Gaza Strip are now facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, bordering on starvation. The findings underscore the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation across the territory amidst ongoing conflict and severe restrictions on aid deliveries.
The assessment, conducted by a partnership of international agencies including those involved with the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, highlights that roughly 20% of the population – estimated to be hundreds of thousands of people – are grappling with extreme lack of food, significant malnutrition, and potentially death due to starvation if conditions do not improve immediately.
Humanitarian organizations have repeatedly warned of a looming famine in Gaza since late last year, and this latest report indicates that those fears are tragically materializing, with a substantial portion of the population now entering the direst phase of hunger classification.
Causes of the Crisis
Experts attribute the critical situation to a combination of factors:
- Ongoing Hostilities: Intense fighting continues to disrupt access to and distribution of food and other essential supplies. Damaged roads, lack of security for aid workers, and the risk of bombardment make delivering assistance extremely challenging and dangerous.
- Restricted Access: Despite repeated international calls, the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza remains woefully insufficient to meet the overwhelming needs. Bureaucratic hurdles, security checks, and the limited number of functioning entry points significantly slow down the flow of trucks carrying life-saving supplies.
- Destruction of Infrastructure: Local food production capabilities, such as farms, greenhouses, and fishing infrastructure, have been severely damaged or destroyed. Markets struggle to function, and essential services like water purification and sanitation are crippled due to lack of fuel and damaged infrastructure.
- Economic Collapse: The conflict has devastated the local economy. Most people have lost their livelihoods and have no means to purchase food, even if it were available in local markets at inflated prices.
The Human Impact
The consequences of this severe food crisis are devastating for the civilian population. Malnutrition rates, particularly among children, have soared. Health facilities, already struggling with damaged infrastructure and lack of medical supplies, are overwhelmed by cases of severe wasting, dehydration, and diseases exacerbated by hunger.
Families are resorting to desperate measures to find food, including queuing for hours for meager aid distributions when they occur, or attempting to forage in dangerous conditions.
Urgent Need for Action
The food security experts and the United Nations are reiterating urgent calls for immediate and sustained action:
- Greatly Increased Aid Access: A massive and immediate scaling up of humanitarian aid entering Gaza is required, utilizing all possible entry points and simplified procedures.
- Safe and Unhindered Distribution: Guarantees of safe and unimpeded movement for humanitarian workers and aid convoys within Gaza are essential to ensure supplies reach those most in need across all areas.
- Protection of Civilians: All parties to the conflict must uphold international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and ensure the safety of humanitarian operations.
- Sustained Ceasefire: A lasting cessation of hostilities is seen as crucial to allow for effective aid delivery, restoration of essential services, and the beginning of recovery efforts.
“This report confirms our worst fears: starvation is not just a risk, but a looming reality for a significant portion of Gaza’s population,” stated a spokesperson for one of the collaborating agencies. “This is a human-made catastrophe. It is preventable. Without an immediate and drastic increase in aid and safe access for our teams, we will see many more deaths from hunger and disease.”
The international community is being urged to exert maximum pressure on all relevant parties to facilitate humanitarian access and protect civilians from further suffering. The lives of hundreds of thousands depend on swift and decisive action.
Gaza: Starvation looms for one in five people, say food security experts
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The following question was used to generate the response from Google Gemini:
At 2025-05-12 12:00, ‘Gaza: Starvation looms for one in five people, say food security experts’ was published according to Humanitarian Aid. Please write a detailed article with related information in an easy-to-understand manner. Please answer in English.
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