As if on cue...
[Regnum] A state of catastrophic famine has been declared in the Gaza Strip for the first time. This was reported on Friday, August 22, by the United Nations (UN).
“The FRC (Famine Review Committee - Ed.) considers the current classification proposed by the analysis group (Famine Phase 5 of the Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) with sound evidence) to be plausible,” the UN agencies and humanitarian organization said in a statement.
In this classification, the fifth phase involves catastrophic famine.
Experts estimate that by the end of September, over 640,000 people in the Gaza Strip will face catastrophic levels of food shortages. Another 1.14 million people in the Palestinian enclave will find themselves in a state of emergency and another 396,000 in a state of crisis.
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Israel Accuses UN of Fabricating Gaza Famine Report
The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the United Nations report on the famine in the Gaza Strip, presented to the UN earlier on August 22, fabricated.
"The IPC has just published a 'custom-made' fabricated report to suit the Hamas fake campaign," the agency's website says.
The Israeli ministry claims that since the beginning of the military conflict, more than 100,000 trucks with humanitarian aid have entered Gaza and that food prices have fallen sharply in the region due to the massive influx of humanitarian aid. The predictions regarding Gaza during the war turned out to be false, the Jewish state's Foreign Ministry said.
On August 20, Adviser to the President of Palestine Mahmoud Al-Habash stated that Russia provides the Palestinian people with various types of assistance, including in saving lives. The Adviser cited one of Russia's key humanitarian initiatives as an example, recalling the transfer of 30,000 tons of wheat to Palestine, which was sent by order of President Mahmoud Abbas for the needs of the Gaza Strip in the context of ongoing famine and the increasing number of victims due to food shortages. Al-Habash noted that this is just one example of Russia's constant and consistent support for the Palestinian people.
From yesterday's 'Burg:
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| America agrees with Israel: |
[IsraelTimes] The White House appears to dismiss the findings of a UN-backed global hunger monitor after the latter issued a report concluding that famine had struck Gaza for the first time.
“We are looking into credible reports that the IPC recently changed its definition for what constitutes a famine,” reads a statement from a US State Department spokesperson.
The statement appears to be referring to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s (IPC) decision to utilize a different system to measure malnutrition in Gaza than it has used in other conflict zones.
To track hunger in Gaza, IPC used the Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) measurement, as opposed to the weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ).
Under MUAC, 15% of people measured need to be identified as acutely malnourished in order for a famine to be declared, whereas the threshold for WHZ is 30%. Israel has accused IPC of lowering its own criteria in order to conclude that there is famine in Gaza. In its report, the UN agency explained that it used the MUAC measurement instead of WHZ because the former is easier and cheaper to track amid the challenging wartime conditions.
The US appears to reject the approach and the conclusions reached in the report, with the State Department spokesperson saying that addressing the “challenging issues of getting aid to Gazans means honestly addressing problems for the sake of Gazans, who deserve better, not engaging in semantics.”
The spokesperson clarifies that the US still thinks the humanitarian situation in Gaza is a “serious concern” and that Washington is working to find ways to deliver aid to Gazan civilians in an active war zone where the Hamas terror group is trying to remain in power.
“Hamas is systematically promoting a false narrative of deliberate mass starvation to put political pressure on Israel,” the spokesperson asserts.
The US statement points out UN figures that show the vast majority of its trucks coming into Gaza over the past two months have been looted, arguing that food is going into the Strip but is not reaching those who need it most. Notably, the figures cited are from May 19, when Israel lifted its aid blockade over Gaza after 78 days.
Aid organizations say that the blockade helped spur the current hunger crisis and that the 22 months of war have led to a collapse of the humanitarian response in Gaza that was necessary to ensure that food continued reaching vulnerable populations at earlier stages of the war.
The State Department spokesperson says the US is focused on “getting aid to the people in need while implementing safeguards to prevent Hamas from stealing and looting the assistance.”