Nutrition

The chance to prevent widespread famine in the Gaza Strip has passed, according to the IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC). The prolonged food crisis in Gaza reached an unprecedented and devastating level in July and August, with the FRC confirming famine in Gaza Governate and projecting famine thresholds to be crossed in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis Governates in the coming weeks. This latest update places more than half a million people at risk of starvation.

The population of the Gaza Strip is facing unprecedented crisis, according to the latest IPC alert released yesterday. Calling the situation the “worst-case scenario,” the alert reports famine-level food consumption throughout most of the territory and acute malnutrition in Gaza City.

The realities of a changing climate are becoming increasingly clear, with temperatures rising around the world and extreme weather events, like flooding and droughts, becoming more and more frequent. April 2025 was the second hottest April globally on record, and evidence suggests such anomalous high temperatures could become the norm rather than the exception.

In recent years, it has become increasingly recognized that true food and nutrition security depend not just on consumption of an adequate caloric quantity of food but also on consumption of the right types of food. A healthy diet—which the WHO and FAO define as one characterized by adequate, balanced, moderate, and diverse consumption of safe foods and beverages—is essential in supporting long-term physical and cognitive health, development, and well-being and in preventing diseases and damaging nutrient imbalances.

As the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on in the Gaza Strip, the territory’s entire population of more than 2 million remains under threat of severe food crisis. The latest alert from the IPC Integrated Phase Classification for Acute Food Insecurity reports that one in five people in the Gaza Strip—upwards of 500,000—are on the brink of  starvation (IPC Phase 5 Catastrophe) due to the March 18, 2025 end of the ceasefire and the resumption of blockades of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies. The entire population is facing crisis-level acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or worse).