An Israeli soldier operates in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in this handout picture released on December 21, 2023.
Credit: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via Reuters
London: The entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger and the risk of famine is increasing each day, a UN-backed body said in a report published on Thursday.
The proportion of households in Gaza affected by high levels of acute food insecurity is the largest ever recorded globally, according to a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated rapidly since Israel launched a major military operation on October 7, with heavy bombardment destroying wide areas of the coastal enclave in the ensuring weeks, in response to a shock incursion by Gaza's ruling Palestinian militant group Hamas into Israel.
Trucks bringing aid from Egypt have delivered some food, water and medicine, but the United Nations says the quantity of food is just 10 per cent of what's needed for the territory's inhabitants, most of whom have been displaced.