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The “worst case of famine is currently being developed in the Gaza Strip,” said the main international authority on food crisis on a new alert on Tuesday, predicting “generalized death” without immediate measures.

The alert, still below a formal statement of famine, follows a protest for images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of dozens of deaths related to hunger after almost 22 months of war.

He International pressure He led Israel during the weekend to announce measures, including daily humanitarian pauses in the fight in parts of Gaza and Airdrops. The United Nations and the Palestinians on the ground say that little has changed, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm and download delivery trucks before they can reach their destinations.

Integrated Food Safety Phase, or CPI, said Gaza has staggered on the edge of the famine for two years, but recent developments have “dramatically worsened” the situation, including “increasingly strict blockages” in Israel.

“The growing evidence shows that generalized hunger, malnutrition and disease are promoting an increase in death -related deaths. The latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been achieved for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in the city of Gaza,” the CPI said. “Immediate measures should be taken to end hostilities and allow the humanitarian response without obstacles, on a large scale and save life. This is the only way to stop more deaths and a catastrophic human suffering.”

A formal statement of famine, which is rare, requires the type of data that the lack of access to gaza and mobility within it has greatly denied. The CPI has only declared the famine several times: in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and parts of the Western Darfur region of Sudan last year.

“Mortal inflection point” reached

But independent experts say they don’t need a formal statement to know what they are seeing in Gaza.

“Just as a family doctor can often diagnose a patient with whom he is familiar based on visible symptoms without having to send samples to the laboratory and wait for the results, so we can also interpret the symptoms of Gaza. This is famine,” Associated.

An area is classified as in the famine when the following three conditions are confirmed:

At least 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, or are essentially hungry. At least 30% of children from six months to 5 years suffer from acute or waste malnutrition, which means that they are too thin for their height. And at least two people or four children under 5 by 10,000 are dying daily due to the starvation or interaction of malnutrition and disease.

The report is based on the information available until July 25 and says that the crisis has reached “an alarming and deadly turning point.” He says that the data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza, at its lowest level since the war began, and for acute malnutrition in the city of Gaza. The report says that almost 17 out of every 100 children under 5 in Gaza City are very malnourished.

The growing evidence shows “generalized hunger,” says the CPI. Essential health and other services have collapsed. One in three people in Gaza leaves without food for days, according to the World Food Program. Hospitals report a rapid increase in death -related deaths in children under 5 years. The population of Gaza of more than 2 million has been squeezed in smaller areas of the devastated territory.

The last analysis of the CPI in May warned that Gaza will probably fall into the famine if Israel does not raise its blockade and stops its military campaign. Its new alert requires immediate action and a large scale and warns: “The failure of the performance will now result in a generalized death in much of the strip.”

Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, he cut the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine, to press Hamas to release hostages.

Israel relieved those restrictions in May, but also advanced with a new help delivery system backed by the United States that has been destroyed by chaos and violence. Traditional aid suppliers led by the UN say Deliveries have been hindered For Israeli military restrictions and looting incidents, while criminals and hungry crowds in the swarm enter in convoys.

While Israel says that there is no limit on how many help trucks can enter Gaza, UN agencies and help groups say that even the latest humanitarian measures are It is not enough to counteract the worsening of hunger. In a statement on Monday, doctors without borders called the new ineffective and dangerous aerdrops, saying that they provide less help than trucks.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that no one is starving in Gaza and that Israel has provided enough help throughout the war: “otherwise there would be no gazanes.” Israel’s army criticized on Monday what he calls “false claims of deliberate hunger in Gaza.”

Israel’s closest ally now seems to disagree. “Those children seem very hungry,” President Donald Trump said about Gaza’s images in recent days.

Haley Ott contributed to this report.

• Hamas
• Israel
• Loop
• Famine