 "Northern Gaza suffering from 'full-blown' famine, it's spreading to southern Gaza, says top UN official")
The northern parts of the Gaza Strip are suffering from a “full-blown” famine that’s making its way to the southern parts too, said World Food Programme (WFP) chief Cindy McCain.
The monthslong war between Israel and Hamas has deprived Gaza of food, water, and other essential amenities. While WFP has not yet made a formal declaration of famine, hunger and starvation in the region is being increasingly flagged now.
In an interview with NBC News, McCain also said that a ceasefire in Gaza is needed so that food can be distributed to the needy people of Gaza at a much faster rate.
As the fighting between Israel and Hamas moved southwards, the northern Gaza became a largely lawless region where no governance or policing structure remains as Israeli military exercises little to no control there and the erstwhile Hamas has largely been routed. Some reports say that armed militias have taken over the areas.
‘It’s hard to look at and hear’: McCain on Gaza’s conditions
McCain described the conditions in northern Gaza as “horror”.
“It’s horror. It’s, you know, it’s so hard to look at and it’s so hard to hear, also,” said McCain, the Executive Director of WFP, the aid agency of the United Nations (UN).
In excerpts of the interview published by NBC, while McCain did not explain why a famine has not been formally declared, she was quoted as saying that she can say from what she has learnt that a famine is indeed there in northern Gaza. The complete interview will be aired later on Sunday.
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View All“What I can explain to you is — is that there is famine — full-blown famine — in the north, and it’s moving its way south…Whenever you have conflicts like this, and emotions rage high, and things happen in a war, famine happens,” said McCain, adding that the people of Gaza need water, sanitation, and medicine.
Last month, US AID Director Samantha Powell had said that it was credible to assess that Gaza was having a famine. Referring to an assessment from March by Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), she had said, “It’s one that’s relied upon in other settings and that is their assessment and we believe that assessment is credible.”
What is a famine?
Famine is a technical term to refer to a situation to widespread scarcity of food in a region.
In an article on the UN’s website, WFP Chief Economist Arif Husain laid out the three conditions that together lead to a place to be declared as famine-affected:
At least 20% population faces extreme levels of hunger
At least 30% children are wasted or too thin for their height
The death rate has doubled
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