Extreme Ur in Gaza UN: It Can Stop, It Is Man - Made

This is something we've been saying for months now, and we've seen this and we've lived and suffered. We feel very helpless and very sick and very tired”, said Ammad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network, who has stayed in Gaza City throughout the 22-month war.

Friday, The IPC global organisation classifying food uncertainty reported that three key thresholds for declaring extreme hunger have been fulfilled in this area that was once Gaza's commercial and administrative heart.

“This extreme hunger is entirely caused by man, can be stopped and overturned”, the IPC report said, warning of an exponential increase in death unless the ceasefire is implemented and basic supplies and services are restored.

This is just the fourth time IPC has declared the extreme “ ” since its establishment in 2004, with the latest case in Sudan in 2023.

The most endangered population includes the elderly, children, the sick, and the isolated. About 500,000 to 800,000 Palestinians currently live in the city.

I don't have anything to cook, and I don't have money to buy firewood for cooking. We eat a little breakfast to satisfy our hunger and a little more at night. I eat just a little zafar, cheese or just salt with bread, no vegetables, nothing cooked”, says Sabah Antaz, 55, displaced by Tuffah neighborhood.

She suffers from hypertension, diabetes, and a heart condition. Her husband is sick and unable to obtain food.

We have no one left to support me or bring us food. I lost about 10 members of my family in an air strike in Tuffah district: my father, mother, grandchildren, children of my brothers and sisters”, she relates.

Israeli authorities forced the blockade on Gaza since October 2023, fully banning supply entry for two months in March and April, reports The Guardian.

Although some products like sugar have recently been introduced, prices are out of bearable for 90% of non-profit residents. The tomatoes cost up to 30 dollars per kilo.

Ibtisam Saleh, 50, moved 20 times since the start of the war, now lives in a tent in the city.

What we have now comes only from help. Before the war, I took $100 each month from Qatar Embassy because I was divorced and had a son. But since the war started, we haven't taken anything from”, she relates.

Saleh eats one meal a day, usually lentils, and sometimes just bread.

I don't have the strength to stand in line waiting to get my share [of any food aid]. Once I fainted while waiting. The sun was very hot and I'm with hypertension”, she adds.

Meanwhile, in the northern part of Gaza, conditions are even worse, with thousands trapped in ruins.

This is a population that has been stripped of any resistance... They have absolutely nothing. There is no security limit...”, a UN aid official who supervises operations in Gaza has said.

Riham Kraiem, 35, lives with her husband and 10 children in a tent in the city.

“over the past three months, we haven't received any money or help. My kids are looking for a lot of things... They want me to make you sweets, but I can't because we don't have a”, she said.

"The other day, my son went looking for help and took a kilo of pasta and a can of tomato sauce... He returned feeling as if he were flying out of happiness”, she added.

On the other hand, Israeli authorities reject the IPC report, labeling it unfounded.

“There is no extreme hunger in Gaza, and the findings are based on Hamas' lies cleared through close-interest organisations”, Israeli officials have said./Periscopi/