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Half of Gaza’s population may face famine in late September

According to the report, around 1.1 million people will face either "catastrophic" or "high levels of acute food insecurity"

ROME, June 25. /TASS/. Half of Gaza’s population may face a high risk of catastrophic famine in late September because of the protracted Palestinian-Israeli conflict, according to a report of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a five-phase scale provides common standards for classifying the severity of acute food insecurity.

"A high risk of Famine persists across the whole Gaza Strip as long as conflict continues and humanitarian access is restricted," it said.

According to the report, half of Gaza’s population, or around 1.1 million people will face either "catastrophic" or "high levels of acute food insecurity," which is by 530,000 people more than in the previous analysis conducted from mid-February to mid-March 2024.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in March that 70% of the enclave’s population were on the brink of starvation and 100% suffered from malnutrition.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.