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Entire Gaza at ‘risk of famine’ as fighting rages between Israel, Hamas

New report says at least 576,600 people have exhausted food supplies and face catastrophic hunger and starvation.

Relatives of the Palestinians killed during the Israeli attacks mourn as the bodies are taken from the morgue of the El-Najar Hospital for burial in Rafah.
Relatives of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks mourn as their bodies are taken from the morgue of al-Najar hospital for burial in Rafah in southern Gaza. [Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu]
Published On 22 Dec 2023

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United Nations agencies say that Gaza’s entire population of 2.3 million people is at “imminent risk of famine” as battles rage between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters across most of the enclave.

Relentless attacks from both sides have left more than half a million people – or roughly one in four people in Gaza – starving because not enough food has entered the besieged territory.

The proportion of households in Gaza affected by high levels of acute food insecurity is the largest ever recorded globally, according to the report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) published on Thursday.

The extent of hunger in Gaza has eclipsed even the near-famines in Afghanistan and Yemen of recent years, according to the report, which included data from the World Food Programme (WFP), other UN agencies and non-governmental organisations.

Its report said that 26 percent of Gazans, about 576,600 people, have “exhausted their food supplies and coping capacities and face catastrophic hunger … and starvation”.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Friday that 20,057 Palestinians have been killed and 53,320 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7, when the current conflict broke out. The death toll from Hamas’s attack on Israel stands at about 1,140.

The Gaza ministry said that 390 Palestinians were killed and 734 people were injured in the last 48 hours alone.

Men transport the body of Jehad Arafat, who was killed in Israeli bombardment, from the Najjar hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Men transport the body of Jehad Arafat, who was killed in an attack by Israeli forces, from al-Najar hospital. [Mahmud Hams/AFP]
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An injured Palestinian girl is taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for medical treatment following Israeli army hit Nasirat Refugee Camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.
An injured Palestinian girl is taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital following an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu]
Injured Palestinians, including children, are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for medical treatment following Israeli army hit Nasirat Refugee Camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.
Injured Palestinians, including children, are brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital. [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu]
Palestinians check the rubble following Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
Palestinians walk amid the rubble after Israeli forces bombarded Rafah. [Mohammed Abed/AFP]
Palestinians, displaced by the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis, seek shelter inside an agricultural tent in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
United Nations agencies warn that Gaza's entire population of 2.3 million people is at 'imminent risk of famine' as battles rage between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters across most of the enclave. [Mohammed Abed/AFP]
Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip.
The UN food agency 'has warned of this coming catastrophe for weeks ... the situation is desperate, and no one in Gaza is safe from starvation,' said Cindy McCain, the executive director of the UN World Food Programme. [Fatima Shbair/AP Photo]
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Palestinian children carry pots as they queue to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid shortages in food supplies, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Rafah.
'Hostilities, including bombardment, ground operations ... besiegement of the entire population have caused catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity', the IPC report said. [Saleh Salem/Reuters]
Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip.
Mahmoud al-Qishawi, with the US charity Pious Projects that runs a kitchen in Rafah, said there is no fuel for cooking, so they have to search for wood to burn in the neighbourhood. 'There’s a huge number of families and we don’t have food that is enough for them.' [Fatima Shbair/AP Photo]
Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has limited capacity for trucks to cross. UN officials say that the delivery of aid within much of Gaza has become difficult or impossible because of the fighting. [Hatem Ali/AP Photo]
Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip.
If the current situation of 'intense conflict and restricted humanitarian access persists,' the IPC report said that there is a 'risk of famine occurring within the next six months'. [Fatima Shbair/AP Photo]
Palestinians are seen around their makeshift tents as they left their homes and took refuge in Rafah city in order to protect themselves from Israeli attacks and to ensure their safety in Rafah.
WFP food security experts had already established that Gazans have 'used up all their resources, livelihoods have collapsed, bakeries are destroyed, shops are empty, and families can’t find food,' the report said. [Abed Zagout/Anadolu]
Palestinians cook around their makeshift tents as they left their homes and took refuge in Rafah city in order to protect themselves from Israeli attacks and to ensure their safety in Rafah.
People told WFP staff that they often go entire days without eating and that many adults go hungry so that children can eat, according to the report. [Abed Zagout/Anadolu]