ROME, February 13. /TASS/. At least 25% of 2.2 mln residents in the Gaza Strip have found themselves in catastrophe-like conditions, the highest, fifth category, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a statement.

"There are unprecedented levels of acute food insecurity, hunger, and near famine-like conditions in Gaza. It's an unprecedented situation that we find ourselves in. We have categories for how we measure acute food insecurity known as the IPC phase classifications, IPC 3, 4, and 5, which take us from emergency to crisis, to catastrophe. All 2.2 million people in Gaza are in these three categories," the statement said. "At this stage, probably about 25% of that 2.2 million are in that top-level IPC five category," the agency added. The organization noted that the situation like this has never been seen before "in the analysis and the review that the IPC structure takes on in countries all around the world."

The situation is exacerbated by the fact that in addition to problems with delivering aid, local agricultural infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. "Before the conflict, the people of Gaza had a self-sustaining fruit and vegetable production sector, populated with greenhouses, and there was a robust backyard small-scale livestock production sector. We've recognized from our damage assessments that most of these animal inventories, but also the infrastructure that is needed for that kind of specialty crop production is virtually destroyed," the agency explained.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.