The assessment applies to Gaza City and its surroundings, writes the UN-backed body that monitors food availability in the world. This is the first time that IPC notes a famine condition – the highest level on a five-grade scale – not just in Gaza, but in the Middle East in general, writes the news agency AFP.
The expert group describes that the "catastrophic conditions" are expected to spread to Dayr al-Balah and Khan Yunis by the end of September.
The highest level has only been noted a handful of times globally in recent decades and means that 641,000 people in the area are facing "catastrophic conditions characterized by famine, poverty, and death", according to IPC.
An additional million people are in the second-highest level of famine.
Blocked emergency aid
IPC's criteria for noting famine are that 20 percent of households suffer from extreme food shortages (starvation), at least 30 percent of all children between six months and five years suffer from acute malnutrition, and at least two people per 10,000 inhabitants, or five children under five, die every day due to famine or a combination of famine and disease. All three criteria must be met for the level to be considered reached.
The famine catastrophe in Gaza occurs after Israel, during the 22-month-long war, periodically closed off all forms of emergency aid from the Gaza Strip. Even though some supplies are now being let in, it is, according to the UN, far from enough to compensate for the long-term shortages.
"Even if further deaths can and should be prevented through immediate actions, it is obvious that these actions will in practice be a delayed reaction, since many will already have died by then", writes IPC in its report.
UN chief: "A war crime"
From heavy UN weights comes condemnation.
It is a war crime to use famine as a method in warfare, says human rights chief Volker Türk, according to AFP.
We cannot allow this situation to continue unpunished, says Secretary-General António Guterres, and calls for immediate ceasefire, release of hostages, and "full humanitarian access without restrictions".
Even though the assessment now applies to the area around Gaza City, the conditions to the north are estimated to be just as serious or even worse, but IPC does not have enough data to confirm famine there.
Israel: Lies from Hamas
Areas that have been largely emptied of people, such as Rafah in southern Gaza, have not been analyzed either.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses the report in its entirety as "pure lies", reports AFP.
He accuses Hamas of stealing emergency aid and "staging a famine campaign".
