WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Food security in Gaza has improved since the ceasefire declared in October, pushing back famine conditions, but the situation remains critical with more than three-quarters of the population still facing acute hunger and malnutrition, a new UN-backed analysis has found.
For the first good news since the October 10 ceasefire, the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis for Gaza confirms that no areas of the war-ravaged enclave are currently classified in famine and improved humanitarian and commercial access. This welcome progress remains extremely fragile as the population continues to struggle with massive infrastructure destruction and collapsed livelihoods and local food production, given restrictions on humanitarian operations.
However, nearly the entire Gaza Strip remains in emergency, with hundreds of thousands of people still experiencing very high acute malnutrition rates.
Between mid-October and the end of November, around 1.6 million people - roughly 77 per cent of the population analysed - faced crisis-level hunger or worse. This included more than 500,000 people in emergency and over 100,000 people in catastrophe, the report said.
Without sustained, large-scale expansion of food, livelihood, agriculture and health assistance, together with increased commercial inflows, hundreds of thousands of people could rapidly slip back into famine, warned the four agencies of the United Nations - the Food and Agriculture Organization, UNICEF, the World Food Program and the World Health Organization.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the latest findings show progress, but warned that the gains remain 'fragile - perilously so.'
'Famine has been pushed back. Far more people are able to access the food they need to survive,' he told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.
However, he added that 1.6 million people in Gaza - more than 75 per cent of the population - 'are projected to face extreme levels of acute food insecurity and critical malnutrition risks.'
'We need a truly durable ceasefire,' the UN chief said, calling for more crossings into Gaza, fewer restrictions on critical supplies, safe routes within the Strip, sustained funding and unimpeded humanitarian access.
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