ADMIN
The UN Famine Review Committee said it did not have enough “supportive evidence” to determine whether there is a famine in the northern Gaza Strip.
The committee released its findings in an 18-page report released on June 4. The committee works under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a “multi-partner initiative to improve food security and nutrition analysis and decision-making”. Classification, a finding of phase 5 would indicate a famine/humanitarian disaster in the observed area.
The Famine Review Committee (FRC) report was triggered by a finding from the US's Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET), which determined under the IPC that, at least as of April 1, northern Gaza is in a state of famine (IPC Phase 5). That is called reasonable evidence. The FEFS Net, established by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1985, also estimated that the famine would continue until at least July 31.
The UN committee said in its report, however, that it “does not consider the FEWS NET analysis reasonable due to the uncertainty and lack of coherence of supporting evidence employed in the analysis. Therefore, the FRC is unable to determine whether or not the famine threshold was crossed in April.”
“All stakeholders who use the IPC to inform high-level decision-making must understand that whether a famine classification is warranted in no way alters the fact that extreme humanitarian suffering is undoubtedly ongoing in the Gaza Strip today and in no way is it. To address this civilian suffering “All actors should not wait until the current famine classification is in place to make immediate humanitarian mandate changes enabling full, safe, uninterrupted, and sustainable humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, through a cessation of hostilities,” the report said.
The report added that “we cannot (or will not) support the fact that FEWS NET's analysis is driven by the lack of necessary up-to-date data on human well-being in northern Gaza and Gaza at large. The FRC strongly urges all parties to enable humanitarian access in general.” for and requests an opportunity to conduct field surveys to obtain more robust evidence of food intake, nutrition and mortality conditions in northern Gaza in particular.”
On Sunday, the IDF announced it would observe a daily “strategic pause in military activity” from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Rafah area of the southern Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.
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Humanitarian aid is entering Gaza through the Keram Shalom crossing
(Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen)
According to the IDF, the purpose of the daily pause is to “increase humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip” and was announced “following discussions with the United Nations and international organizations.”
A Famine Review Committee report issued in March found that “thresholds for severe food insecurity have already been crossed, and the threshold for severe malnutrition is likely to be exceeded.”
“The FRC is deeply concerned about the situation in the Gaza Strip,” the report added.
According to the report, “There are significant data gaps and uncertainties regarding the total number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip and the level of trucks and humanitarian aid delivered to different areas of the Gaza Strip.” It also noted that the FEWS NET investigation that led to the famine determination failed to take into account food contributions from various other sources, including World Food Kitchens and other commercial or private enterprises.
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