Famine In Gaza Is Underway Amid Israel's US-Backed Siege, Experts Confirm

Palestinians are struggling to access food due to Israel's blockade and ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip.Famine is occurring in Gaza, the leading global tracker of food insecurity announced on Friday, pointing to “catastrophic” conditions for more than half a million Palestinians — including tens of thousands of children edging toward death via acute malnutrition — largely because of Israeli policies enabled by extensive US support.The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is officially applying the famine classification to Gaza for the first time since the nearly two-year Israeli campaign there began, saying famine is confirmed in the governorate, including Gaza City, the region Israeli forces are preparing to target in a new offensive. The IPC, considered the gold standard for tracking hunger, is a consortium that includes 21 United Nations agencies and major nongovernmental aid groups. In September, famine is expected to expand to two other governorates, Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, it added. The group noted it was unable to secure data about north Gaza, one of the hardest-hit areas during the war. The IPC also noted that the number of children under five who could die by starvation has doubled since its last projection in May; it now anticipates that at least 132,000 will be in that category by June 2026. It described the deterioration among Palestinians as the most severe it has recorded anywhere in the world since its founding in 2004.The finding represents a chilling milestone for the war. While warnings of mass hunger and fatal starvation in the region spread, US and Israeli officials have mostly ignored extensive pleas to end policies like severe Israeli restrictions on the entry of supplies to Gaza and ongoing Israeli attacks on the strip, which have repeatedly hit humanitarian workers and made it hard for them to distribute goods. Previous research by the IPC and other experts, including US government officials, had suggested famine was occurring but then was abated by tweaks in policies around aid, confirming that policymakers’ choices made the situation more desperate.“Israel caused the famine confirmed today in Gaza Governorate, but the United States has made it possible, supplying the arms, funding, and political cover at every step leading to this tragic point,” said Scott Paul, the director of peace and security at Oxfam America, in a statement. “Now, the Trump administration must do all in its power to reach an immediate, permanent ceasefire, ensure there is a sustained surge of aid, and the release of all hostages and illegally detained prisoners. The US should suspend offensive arms sales to Israel now. There is not a second to waste while more people die from starvation every day.”Paul’s group is among those currently unable to get help to Palestinians, despite being prepared to do so. Oxfam says it has $2.5 million worth of aid in warehouses adjacent to Gaza that Israeli authorities refuse to allow in. Israel offers several often conflicting arguments about hunger among Palestinians: that sufficient food is available; that militants, chiefly the faction Hamas, steal aid en masse (a claim which officials in Israel, the UN and the US have rejected); and that it is supporting a functioning aid system through a program called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has also received U.S. funding. American military contractors and Israeli troops shield the GHF, which was established in May after long-standing Israeli opposition to other humanitarian groups and attacks at GHF distribution points had killed more than 1,400 Palestinians. The GHF claims those casualty numbers are exaggerated and highlights its delivery of meals, though the packages it supplies are hard to use since they usually require water and fuel, which are in short supply. With the famine announcement, “the number of people crossing that threshold into [their malnutrition] being non-survivable while still being alive is just devastating … it’s apocalyptic,” said Mark Brauner, an American doctor who volunteered in Gaza earlier this summer and described his experience to HuffPost. Brauner said he receives updates, including photographs, from Palestinians he worked alongside and cannot recognize them from seven weeks ago because of how hunger is wearing away at them.“They’ve taken on a completely different physicality,” he said. “They’re truly becoming skeletal, and you can see that the skin is like paper.”Observers note that a key reason Palestinians are particularly vulnerable to food shortages now is that most of Gaza’s population has faced repeated forced displacements and near-starvation levels before. Under President Joe Biden, who largely resisted calls to pressure Israel as he surged support to the country following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack, US officials found famine was occurring in April 2024, HuffPost revealed, and UN experts reached similar conclusions in July and November 2024. President Donald Trump has largely built on Biden’s permissive policy toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, endorsing some of his most extreme ideas, like the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.“The United States government has a longstanding commitment to prevent famine, but it has fueled one in Gaza,” Paul said.Related...No.10 Condemns Israel Over Latest Killing Of Journalists In GazaKeir Starmer Condemns Israel's Escalation Of Gaza Offensive With Bleak 'Bloodshed' WarningNetanyahu Says Israel Plans To Take Control Of Entire Gaza Strip

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