Integrated Food Security Phase Classification admits amount of food available in Gaza increased after previous report in March warning of famine risk.
Israel National NewsJun 25, 2024, 3:43 PM (GMT+3)
There is no famine in Gaza, a new report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) found today (Tuesday).
The new study contradicts previous claims that Gaza was on the brink of or experiencing a famine and mass starvation.
The IPC found that the amount of food entering Gaza has increased since March, when it predicted that a famine was imminent. It also reduced the percentage of Gazans who fall under the phases four and five of its famine-rating scale, indicating that Gazans
“In this context, the available evidence does not indicate that famine is currently occurring,” the report stated. However, it stated that the risk of famine in Gaza remains and warned against complacency.
The IPC is affiliated with the United Nations. Its previous report in March was strongly criticized by COGAT, which stated that the report “contains multiple factual and methodological flaws, such as self-attested informational gaps, relying on problematic sources including the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health and excluding important information.”
The accusation that Israel is causing a famine in Gaza has been central to claims that Israel is committing war crimes and genocide in the war against the Hamas terrorist organization. The United Nations has frequently claimed that Gaza is in the midst of or on the brink of a famine, and International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan accused the Jewish State of using starvation as a method of war in his justification for seeking arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Khan cited the March IPC report in his decision.
Israel has denied the accusations, noting that UNRWA and the UN have often not counted private-sector aid trucks that have entered Gaza and even undercounted the number of UN aid trucks that have entered Gaza, creating a false impression of a food shortage that is not reflected in the reality on the ground.
In late May, a study by experts from the Hebrew University that analyzed the more accurate aid figures provided by COGAT found that over the previous four months, the amount of food available in Gaza was enough for each Gazan to have 3,163 kcal a day, one and a half times the recommended 2,100 calories a day.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry has claimed that 34 people have died of malnutrition since the war began on October 7, a rate that is far below what is expected for a population facing famine or at imminent risk of famine.
Content retrieved from: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/392093.