U.N.-backed food security experts determined on Friday that Gaza City and the surrounding area are officially suffering from famine. Israel has blocked most food and other aid from entering the enclave since the war began nearly two years ago.
The determination of famine came from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, known as the I.P.C., a group of international organizations that the United Nations and aid agencies rely on to monitor and classify global hunger crises.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, an agency responsible for managing the entry of aid into Gaza, rejected the I.P.C.’s findings.
“The I.P.C. report is based on partial and unreliable sources, many of them affiliated with Hamas, and blatantly ignores the facts and the extensive humanitarian efforts led by the State of Israel and its international partners,” said Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, the head of the agency.
The I.P.C. said at least half a million people in Gaza Governorate, which includes Gaza City and nearby areas, were facing starvation, acute malnutrition and death. It said the rest of Gaza’s population, which numbers two million in total, was also struggling with severe hunger, and that famine could spread to other parts of Gaza by the end of September.
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