Famine in Gaza is inevitable, with immediate and long-term health consequences

The the latest Integrated Food Safety Classification (IPC) partnership analysis released today warns that the situation in Gaza is catastrophic, that the north of Gaza faces inevitable starvation, and that the rest of the Strip is also threatened.

“The IPC's announcement reflects the dire situation facing the people of Gaza,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Before this crisis, there was enough food in Gaza to feed the population. Malnutrition was a rare occurrence. Now people are dying and many more are sick. More than a million people are expected to face catastrophic starvation if not allowed significantly more food to enter Gaza.”

Before hostilities in recent months, 0.8% of children under the age of 5 were acutely malnourished. Today's report shows that as of February in the northern provinces that figure is between 12.4 and 16.5%.

Without a significant and immediate increase in the delivery of food, water and other essential supplies, conditions will continue to deteriorate. Almost all households already skip meals on a daily basis, and adults cut back on meals so that children can eat.

The current situation will have long-term consequences on the lives and health of thousands of people. Right now, children are dying from the combined effects of malnutrition and disease. Malnutrition makes people more vulnerable to serious illness, slow recovery, or death when infected with disease. The long-term effects of malnutrition, low consumption of nutrient-rich foods, repeated infections and lack of hygiene and sanitation services slow down the overall growth of children. This threatens the health and well-being of the entire future generation.

WHO and partners carry out high-risk missions to deliver medicine, fuel and food for health workers and their patients, but our requests for supplies are often blocked or refused. Damaged roads and ongoing fighting, including in and near hospitals, mean deliveries are few and slow.

The IPC report confirms what we, our UN partners and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been witnessing and reporting for months. When our missions reach hospitals, we meet exhausted and hungry health workers who ask us for food and water. We see patients trying to recover from life-threatening surgeries and limb losses, or those with cancer or diabetes, mothers who have just given birth, or newborns, all suffering from hunger and the diseases that accompany it.

WHO, as a partner of the Nutrition Cluster, is currently supporting the Nutrition Stabilization Center in Rafah to treat children with severe acute malnutrition with medical complications, who are at the highest risk of immediate death if not treated urgently. We are supporting the establishment of two additional centers: one in northern Gaza at the Kamal Adwan Hospital and one at the International Medical Corps Field Hospital in Rafah. WHO supports the pediatric departments of Al-Aqsa and Al-Najjar Hospitals through the provision of nutritional supplies and medicines, as well as the training of medical staff, and the promotion of appropriate infant and young child feeding practices, including breastfeeding.

WHO has trained health workers how to recognize and treat malnutrition with complications. WHO supports hospitals and centers with medical supplies for children undergoing treatment.

Additional nutrition and stabilization centers need to be added in all key hospitals in Gaza. Communities themselves will need support to scale up malnutrition management at the local level.

The WHO and other UN partners are again asking Israel to open more crossings and speed up the entry and delivery of water, food, medical supplies and other humanitarian aid to and from Gaza. As occupying powers, it is their responsibility under international law to allow the passage of supplies, including food. Recent efforts to deliver by air and sea are welcome, but only the expansion of land crossings will allow large-scale deliveries to prevent starvation. Now is the time to act.

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Note to editors

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a multi-partner initiative to improve food and nutrition security analysis and decision-making. Using the IPC classification and analytical approach, governments, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, civil society and other relevant actors work together to determine the severity and magnitude of acute and chronic food insecurity and acute malnutrition in a country, according to internationally recognized standards.

As a member of the IPC Partnership, WHO provided technical expertise and information on the health situation for this evaluation. The conflict presents extreme limitations to the ability to provide life-saving health care to the population. In February 2024, attacks on health facilities, infrastructure and services continued, causing 58% of hospitals in Gaza to be out of service, especially in the northern provinces (75% of hospitals out of service). According to the data of the Healthcare Cluster, as of March 5, 2024, only 2 hospitals and not a single Health Center were fully functional. Acute respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases are widespread among children under the age of five, exposing them to high-risk nutritional deterioration.

Full IPC recommendations

Famine can be stopped – both in the immediate future and requiring urgent and proactive measures by the parties to the conflict and the international community. They must immediately contain the rapidly escalating hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip, muster political support to end hostilities, mobilize the necessary resources and ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

Overall recommendations

• Restore humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip.
• Halt the rapid deterioration of food, health and nutrition security leading to excess mortality through: rebuilding health, nutrition and WASH services and protecting civilians; and supply of safe, nutritious and sufficient food to the entire population in need.
• Sustained supply of sufficient quantities of aid, including but not limited to food, medicine, specialized food products, fuel and other necessities should allow entry and movement throughout the entire Gaza Strip by road. Commercial goods traffic should also be fully restored to meet the required amount of goods.