Alex de Waal writes:

On August 22nd, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification mechanism, affiliated with the United Nations (UN), reported that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had officially passed the “famine” threshold. The same day, the United States government’s own Famine Early Warning Systems Network quietly confirmed this finding, noting that there was good evidence to believe that in Gaza, “mortality from the interaction of hunger and disease” was at famine levels.

For months, Gaza’s descent into famine had been readily reversible. Shortly after October 7th, 2023, Israel imposed a total blockade on the enclave, and desperate hunger spread through the population. But the opening of aid crossings could rapidly relieve the situation, as became clear in April 2024, when warnings of imminent famine led US President Joe Biden to insist that Israel let more aid in, pulling Gaza back from the brink. In the subsequent months, a further tightening of the siege and continued displacement again brought Gaza close to famine. But the ceasefire this January was able to prevent the worst after the UN and its partner agencies were able to scale up their food distributions to almost 400 sites across Gaza. As a result, when Ramadan began at the end of February, Palestinians were able to break their daily fasts with communal meals at sundown.

Israel again put an end to this reprieve on March 3rd, when it violated the ceasefire and restarted its assault on Gaza, imposing nearly 80 days of total blockade. Afterward, it permitted only a limited aid effort. At that time, resuming the UN-led humanitarian system could still have stopped the onset of full-blown famine, but Israel did not allow this, instead putting a new organization, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), at the forefront of delivering rations. The GHF turned out to be an experiment in mass starvation, running just four ration stations in hard-to-reach locations in military zones. Palestinians trying to get food there must face the dangers of both Israeli military posts and the GHF’s own private security guards, who use live ammunition as a means of crowd control and have already killed more than 1,300 aid-seekers. By July, the worst-case scenario had unfolded, with “catastrophic food insecurity” turning into outright famine.

Even now, the means to end the hunger are readily at hand. The UN and experienced humanitarian agencies have the resources, expertise, and plans to provide food and medicine, and are standing ready just a few miles away. Should Israel give the signal, the basic survival needs of many Palestinians in Gaza could be met within days. But even if food is surged into Gaza today—as it must be—irreparable harms have already been done to those who have endured prolonged starvation. We know from history that a famine’s legacy is generations long, its traumas remaining imprinted on the bodies of the survivors even after sustenance is at hand. [Continue reading…]

The Associated Press reports:

The United Nations said Thursday that 170,000 metric tons of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid is ready to enter Gaza and that it is seeking a green light from Israel to massively increase help for more than 2 million Palestinians following a deal to pause the war.

In the last several months, the U.N. and its humanitarian partners have only been able to deliver 20% of the aid needed to address the dire situation in the Gaza Strip, U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said. Following the announcement Wednesday of a ceasefire deal, he said all entry points to Gaza must be opened to deliver aid at “a much, much greater scale.”

“Given the level of needs, the level of starvation, the level of misery and despair, will require a massive collective effort, and that’s what we’re mobilized for,” Fletcher said. “We are absolutely ready to roll and deliver at scale.” [Continue reading…]