FAO: 1m in Gaza will face death, starvation by July

More than one million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip will face famine and death by mid-July, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned yesterday.

An early warning report for the period between June and October 2024 regarding the places where the hunger crisis is taking place, and where acute food insecurity is expected to worsen, the FAO said acute food insecurity will worsen further in 18 hunger “hotspots”, noting that the most dangerous are Gaza and Sudan.

“Mali, Palestine, South Sudan and the Sudan remain at the highest alert level and require the most urgent attention,” it said.

Data stated in the report showed that 100 per cent of the Gaza Strip’s population of 2.2 million people are in the third phase or above, which is known as the “crisis” phase in the United Nations Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

The “ongoing conflict in Palestine is expected to further aggravate the unprecedented death toll, widespread destruction and displacement of nearly the total population in the Gaza Strip.”

The statement quoted FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, saying: “The daunting prospects highlighted in this report should serve as a wake-up call to all of us.”

“Acting ahead of crises can save lives, reduce food shortages and protect livelihoods at a much lower cost than a not timely humanitarian response.”

OPINION: Famine and the rising death toll in Gaza