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   From: MEjercit@HotMail.com   
      
   NefeshBarYochai wrote:   
   > Nearly all of Gaza’s population is struggling with food shortages and   
   > hunger, and half a million people are now facing starvation, a new   
   > report by independent experts says.   
   >   
   > The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or   
   > I.P.C., says in order to buy food, more than half of households in   
   > Gaza have had to exchange clothes and other goods for money. A third   
   > have resorted to picking up trash to sell. The report says many in   
   > Gaza go entire days and nights without eating.   
   >   
   > The analysis was conducted by 35 experts, some from U.N. agencies and   
   > major aid groups. The I.P.C. was founded two decades ago to address   
   > famine in Somalia at the time.   
   >   
   > The I.P.C.report says more than 340,000 Palestinians in Gaza are   
   > experiencing the most severe form of acute food insecurity and   
   > starvation, or what is classified as “catastrophe,” a category just   
   > short of famine. That number is expected to climb to 495,000 people   
   > over the coming three months, the study says. The report team used   
   > publicly available data as well as phone surveys to reach people in   
   > Gaza.   
   >   
   > Israel declared a siege on Gaza after the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7   
   > that killed 1,200 and took around 250 hostages, according to the   
   > government figures. Israeli airstrikes, shelling and violence in Gaza   
   > since then has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, including   
   > thousands of children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It has not   
   > kept a tally of the missing or additional deaths from preventable   
   > disease, malnutrition and other consequences of war.   
   >   
   > Israel has since restricted everything that enters while stating it   
   > has no official policy limiting aid. The government insists it has   
   > facilitated the entry of aid by land, air and sea, but some human   
   > rights organizations and the top prosecutor for the International   
   > Criminal Court allege Israeli leaders are using starvation as a weapon   
   > of war against civilians in Gaza, allegations they deny.   
   >   
   > A previous I.P.C report in March warned of looming famine in north   
   > Gaza unless more aid was allowed in. The Health Ministry in Gaza and   
   > doctors reported babies dying in hospitals without formula or breast   
   > milk from malnourished mothers in Gaza City.   
   >   
   > Facing international pressure and demands by the Biden administration   
   > to get more aid into Gaza, Israel opened a land crossing for aid to   
   > enter the north in recent months. More aid overall reached the Gaza   
   > Strip in March and April.   
   >   
   > This appears to have “temporarily alleviated” conditions in north   
   > Gaza, the I.P.C. study says, adding that the “available evidence does   
   > not indicate that famine is currently occurring.”   
   >   
   > The study, however, says that due to worsening conditions since May in   
   > southern and central Gaza, there is a high risk of famine now across   
   > all of Gaza. Humanitarian aid has slowed into Gaza since Israel’s   
   > assault on the southern city of Rafah last month.   
   >   
   > “The prolonged nature of the crisis means that this risk remains at   
   > least as high as at any time during the past few months,” according to   
   > the report from the I.P.C’s Famine Review Committeem,which added that   
   > “extreme human suffering is without a doubt currently ongoing in the   
   > Gaza Strip.”   
   >   
   > Bombings and displacement hamper access to aid   
   >   
   > In early May, Israeli tanks effectively shut the Gaza border in Rafah   
   > with Egypt, where aid and fuel had been entering. Fighting between the   
   > Israeli military and Hamas in Rafah also made it dangerous and   
   > difficult for aid organizations to reach their warehouses there or   
   > collect aid that entered Gaza at the southern crossing with Israel.   
   > Aid groups told NPR at the time they were rationing food supplies to   
   > distribute while tens of thousands more people needed hot meals.   
   >   
   > “Renewed hostilities and repeated displacementcontinue to erode   
   > people’s ability to cope and access humanitarian assistance,” the   
   > I.P.C. report notes.   
   >   
   > Aid groups react to the report   
   >   
   > The World Food Programme, which distributes food in Gaza, says the   
   > I.P.C. report paints a stark picture of ongoing hunger in the   
   > Palestinian territory. The agency says in order to prevent famine,   
   > people need to be able to have access to the nutrients found in fresh   
   > food, clean water and functioning hospitals. Currently, people are   
   > largely living off canned food and bread.   
   >   
   > Israel blames Hamas for siphoning off aid that enters, something the   
   > group denies. Israel has also blamed U.N. agencies and aid groups for   
   > not distributing effectively the humanitarian assistance that does   
   > enter.   
   >   
   > Humanitarian workers have beenkilled in Israeli airstrikes and aid   
   > groups say their trucks are being looted amid widespread hunger and   
   > lawlessness. The Israeli military has targeted local clans and police   
   > securing the aid.   
   >   
   > Mercy Corps, an aid organization working in Gaza, says Israel is   
   > allowing commercial trucks passage into the territory while the entry   
   > of humanitarian aid trucks people depend on is limited. They say aid   
   > is trickling in.   
   >   
   > “People are enduring subhuman conditions, resorting to desperate   
   > measures like boiling weeds, eating animal feed, and exchanging   
   > clothes for money to stave off hunger and keep their children alive,”   
   > Mercy Corp vice president of global policy and advocacy, Kate   
   > Phillips-Barrasso said in a statement.   
   >   
   > “The population cannot endure these hardships any longer. The toll of   
   > military action has been far too high,” she added.   
   >   
   > It’s not just food that’s lacking in Gaza   
   >   
   > Hospitals, bakeries, ambulances and telecommunications systems are all   
   > running on limited fuel due to unstable supplies entering Gaza.   
   >   
   > The amount of medical aid crossing into Gaza is also insufficient,   
   > according to the World Health Organization.   
   >   
   > A surgeon in Gaza City with Project Hope, Dr. Osama Hamed, said in a   
   > statement that he treated a 13-year-old boy last week with a vascular   
   > and ureteral injury, but the hospital lacked the sutures needed to   
   > operate. A staffer had to physically run to a nearby hospital to get   
   > the last box they had, he says.   
   >   
   > Dr. Hamed says doctors are also seeing malnourished children daily in   
   > Gaza City. NPR has previously reported on malnourished children dying   
   > in central Gaza as the health-care system collapses.   
   >   
      
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