News - Middle East: Famine is imminent in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and the entire population of Gaza is facing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, according to the new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released Monday, according to the WFP.

In Gaza’s two northern governorates, where around 300,000 people remain trapped, famine is expected to arrive between now and May. 

The famine threshold for acute food insecurity has already been far exceeded, while acute malnutrition among children below five years is proceeding at record pace towards the second famine threshold. Non-trauma mortality – the final famine indicator – is accelerating, but data remains limited, as is typical in war zones.

Overall, the new report shows that 1.1 million people in Gaza – half of the population – have completely exhausted their food supplies and coping capacities and are struggling with catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5) and starvation. This is the highest number of people ever recorded as facing catastrophic hunger by the IPC system, and double the number in IPC Phase 5 just three months ago.

Israel initiated its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a "complete siege" on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed over 31,000 Palestinians and injured more than 72,000 others.