Famine in Northern Gaza already in full swing – UN official

A senior UN official warned on Friday that hard-hit northern Gaza is now in “full famine” due to more than six months of fighting and heavy Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory.

Cindy McCain, the U.S. director of the United Nations World Food Program, became the highest-ranking foreign official to say besieged residents in Gaza’s most isolated area had reached the brink of hunger.

She said a ceasefire and a greatly increased flow of aid through land and sea routes were essential to tackle the growing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, home to 2.3 million people.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which controls access to Gaza and says it is beginning to allow more food and other humanitarian aid through land crossings.

The panel that serves as the internationally recognized food crisis monitor said earlier this year that northern Gaza was on the brink of famine and was likely to experience it this month. The next update won’t come until this summer.

Ramping up aid along the planned US-backed sea route will happen gradually as aid groups test distribution and safety arrangements for aid workers, the USAID official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity about safety concerns for work done in a conflict zone. They were among the agency’s first comments on the status of preparations for the Biden administration’s $320 million Gaza pier project, for which USAID is helping coordinate security and distribution on the ground.

At a factory in rural Georgia, USAID administrator Samantha Power on Friday pointed to food crises in Gaza and other parts of the world as she announced a $200 million investment to increase production of emergency food pasta for starving children under the age of five.
Power said. “And it couldn’t be more timely, necessary or important.”

Under pressure from the U.S. and others, Israeli officials have slowly begun reopening some border crossings for aid shipments in recent weeks.

But once the sea route is operational, the aid coming through will still only help a fraction, half a million people, of those who need help in Gaza. Aid agencies, including USAID, emphasize that getting more aid through border crossings is essential to prevent famine.

When wars, droughts or other natural disasters cut off the food supply, children under the age of five are often the first to die. Hospital officials in northern Gaza reported the first hunger-related deaths in early March, with children accounting for the majority of fatalities.

While the U.S. military completes construction of the pier, USAID is coordinating security and distribution with the World Food Program, other humanitarian partners and governments.

President Joe Biden announced the effort in March, under pressure to do more to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza while providing military support to Israel.