Famine was declared in areas of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, as Israeli forces embarked on a major new ground offensive to capture and occupy the city.
Aug. 22 The top global hunger monitoring agency Friday declared a famine affecting more than half a million people in a part of Gaza that includes Gaza City as Israeli forces laid siege to the city in an effort to pressure Hamas ahead of negotiations to release hostages in exchange for a cease-fire.
Famine had been confirmed with the number of people affected a little under 514,000, out of a total population of 2 million, with that number forecast to rise to 641,000 by the end of September, according to a report by the Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
People affected were facing « starvation, destitution and death. »
The IPC’s definition of famine is when at least 20% of households in a defined area are facing an extreme lack of food, acute malnutrition affects at least 30% of children and the daily death toll from starvation reaches a minimum threshold of two adults, or four children, per 10,000 head of population.
However, the IPC said that, due to a lack of data, it had to use an alternate measure to arrive at its conclusion, which is met when 15% of children were suffering from acute malnutrition based on the circumference of their mid-upper arm, together with other underlying evidence.
