Food supplies in Gaza improved but 100,000 people still in ‘catastrophic situation’, UN-backed experts say

UN-backed experts say nutrition and food supplies in Gaza have improved since the ceasefire, but 100,000 people still experienced “catastrophic conditions” last month.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which monitors and classifies the global hunger crisis, said 500,000 people, or about a quarter of Gaza’s population, lived in some areas suffered from famine.

The United Nations and other humanitarian agencies have been able to increase the flow of food into Gaza since the October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the IPC report was “deliberately distorted” and “does not reflect the reality in the Gaza Strip.”

The latest analysis from the IPC shows that a month ago, half a million Gazans were still facing emergency conditions and more than 100,000 were still at the highest level of food insecurity (IPC Phase 5), experiencing “catastrophic conditions”.

It expected the numbers to continue to decrease but stressed the situation remained “highly fragile”.

IPC Phase 5 represents the most extreme level of food insecurity, labeled “famine” when referring to an area and “catastrophe” when referring to a household. No areas of Gaza are currently classified as “famine”, the report said.

Israel rejected the IPC’s initial famine findings and continues to criticize its methods.

Cogat, the Israeli military agency that controls Gaza crossings, said the number of trucks carrying food aid entering Gaza each week exceeds needs identified by the United Nations.

“The data collection on which this report is based is deeply flawed and the sources do not reflect the full scope of humanitarian assistance,” the agency said in a statement.

Responding to Cogat’s criticism, the IPC said it used publicly available data from the United Nations and Cogat in its analysis.

The IPC said acute malnutrition has reached critical levels in Gaza City and is also high in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

The situation is expected to remain dire in the coming months, but the number of people facing the most serious conditions is expected to drop to 1,900 by April, the report said.

But it added that the entire Gaza Strip would be at risk of famine if hostilities resumed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that the second phase of the U.S.-brokered peace plan – in which Israel will further withdraw its troops from Gaza and Hamas will disarm – Closed but key issues still need to be addressed.

The IPC said key drivers of food insecurity include restricted humanitarian access, the displacement of more than 730,000 people and the destruction of livelihoods – including more than 96% of Gaza’s farmland destroyed or inaccessible.

Israel imposed a comprehensive blockade on aid supplies to the Gaza Strip in early March this year and relaxed the blockade in May, saying it hoped to pressure the armed group Hamas to release the hostages remaining in Gaza at the time.

Ahead of the release of the IPC report, Kogat said the agency’s lack of engagement with the United States or Israel and its methods “reinforced a false narrative, in part due to claims coming from Hamas.”

It also denied that Israel was blocking winter and medical supplies from entering the territory, as well as running short of drinking water.

The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, Unwra, said that while reports said Gaza was no longer in the grip of famine, the situation remained “grave.”

“Overall living conditions in the Gaza Strip remain catastrophic, made worse by winter weather,” it said in a statement, adding that there must be “sustained, expanded and consistent humanitarian and commercial access.”