The specter of famine looms over northern Gaza, and the death toll from the Israeli aggression rises to 43,552 martyrs

A report prepared with the support of the United Nations warned today, Saturday, that the specter of famine looms over the northern Gaza Strip, amid escalating shelling and fighting and the near halt of food aid, at a time when the toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression on the besieged Strip for more than a year has risen.

The Famine Review Panel warned in its assessment that "the likelihood of famine is imminent and high, due to the rapid deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip." The report said, "Famine thresholds may have already been crossed or will be soon."

On October 17, the committee predicted that the number of people in Gaza facing “catastrophic” food insecurity would reach 345,000, or 16% of the population, between November and April 2025.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report classified it as Phase 5 of the classification, a situation in which “famine, death, destitution and very critical levels of acute malnutrition are clearly evident.”

The committee reported that since that report, conditions in northern Gaza have worsened, with food systems collapsing, humanitarian assistance declining, and water, sanitation and hygiene conditions.

"Therefore, we can assume that famine, malnutrition, excess deaths due to malnutrition and disease are increasing rapidly in these areas," she added.

Since October 6, the Israeli occupation army has been carrying out an air and ground attack in northern Gaza, especially in the areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, under the pretext of preventing Hamas fighters from regrouping, according to him.

According to the report, the aid shipments allowed into the Gaza Strip are now lower than at any time since October 2023, when the Israeli blockade on the Strip was tightened in conjunction with the military aggression.

This came in the ministry's statistical report on the victims of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip for 400 days, which also left more than 100,000 injured.

The report stated that "the death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to 43,552 martyrs and 102,765 wounded since October 7, 2023."

The ministry explained that the Israeli occupation committed 4 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, 44 martyrs and 81 wounded people arrived at hospitals during the past 24 hours.

She said that a number of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, and that ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them.

In addition to the martyrs and wounded, the genocidal war waged by Israel on Gaza, with American support, has left more than 10,000 missing, amidst massive destruction and famine that has killed dozens of children and elderly people, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

Israel continues its massacres, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to end them immediately, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Source: Al Jazeera + Agencies