ROME, December 22. /TASS/. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations warned that the risk of a food crisis in the Gaza Strip remains at the highest level, according to a report by the organization’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

According to the report, 79% of the population in Gaza is in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) or Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).

"The extreme concentration or isolation of people in inadequate shelters or areas without basic services are major contributors to the risk of famine," FAO said.

According to the document, at least one in four households (or more than half a million people) face catastrophic acute food insecurity conditions.

The organization also pointed at alarmingly high acute malnutrition rates among children under five, and significant excess mortality.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip and took hostages. Hamas described its operation as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel has declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and carried out air strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as some areas of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank.