Famine threat persists as half a million starving, monitor finds

A high risk of famine persists across the Gaza Strip as almost the entire population faces high levels of acute food insecurity or worse, including half a million suffering starvation, according to a global hunger monitor. 

The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) published on Tuesday found that over 20 percent of Gaza's 2.2 million population households go entire days and nights without eating, amid the eight-month Israeli war and siege on Gaza. 

More than half of Palestinian households have exchanged their clothes for money to buy food, while a third have had to pick up trash to sell, the UN-backed report added. 

In March, the IPC warned that famine was imminent in Gaza, projecting it could happen by the end of May. 

The report piled pressure on Israel, which had for months imposed a tight siege on the Palestinian enclave blocking the delivery of basic life-saving food and medical items. 

Read more: Famine threat persists as half a million starving, monitor finds