495,000 people face 'catastrophic acute food insecurity' in Gaza: report

Around 96 percent of the Gaza Strip's population, or 2.15m people, face "high levels of acute food insecurity through September 2024", a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) shows.

While the entirety of Gaza's territory is classified as an emergency (IPC Phase 4), over 495,000 people, or 22 percent of the population, are still facing "catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 5)".

The IPC says that this phase means that households face "an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities".

This prediction, which stretches from 16 June to 1 September, marks an increase from the last report from 1 May to 15 June, where 343,000 people (or 15 percent of the population) were classified in the IPC Phase 5.

As land crossings are shut down and Israel continues its assault on Gaza, very little food and aid is reaching the Palestinian population, particularly in the north.