GAZA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- A UN-backed report released on Friday confirmed famine in parts of the Gaza Strip, marking the first officially declared famine in the Middle East and raising alarms about worsening humanitarian conditions in the war-torn coastal enclave and possible political repercussions.

How severe is the famine in Gaza? Could the UN report bring relief to the suffering?

MANMADE STARVATION

More than half a million people in the Gaza Strip, about a quarter of its population, are trapped in famine, primarily centered in Gaza City, with the crisis spreading southward to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, the new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report confirmed, warning conditions in North Gaza are estimated to be worse.

"It's a human-made disaster, a moral indictment and a failure of humanity itself," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement Friday.

The IPC partnership, the leading international authority on hunger crises, considers an area to be in famine when thresholds for extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition and hunger-related deaths have all been breached: at least 20 percent of households have an extreme lack of food, or essentially are starving; at least 30 percent of children suffer from acute malnutrition, or wasting, too thin for their height; and two people per 10,000 are dying daily of hunger and its complications.

By the end of September, more than 640,000 people, or around 30 percent of the population across the Gaza Strip are expected to face catastrophic levels of food insecurity, the highest in IPC's five-level scale, with 1.14 million more to be in emergency levels, the second-highest in the scale, as around 98 percent of cropland in the territory is damaged or inaccessible, according to the report.

"This is starvation by design and manmade by the Government of Israel," Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said on social media platform X on Friday. "It is the direct result of banning food and other basic supplies for months."

UN agencies have warned that Israel's intensified military operations and restrictions on humanitarian access will further aggravate the crisis, leading to surging preventable deaths, with children, the elderly and the disabled the most vulnerable.

LIVING HELL

Guterres described what's happening in Gaza as "the living hell," saying there are "no words left" to describe it but "famine."

The report found that access to food in Gaza remains constrained. In July, the number of households reporting severe hunger doubled compared to May and more than tripled in Gaza City. Nearly 40 percent indicated they were going days at a time without eating, and adults regularly skip meals to feed their children.

Every day, tens of thousands of people queue for hours in hopes of receiving some flour or canned beans. Yet, most of them return home with nothing, said Hadi Al-Sorani, a father of two living in Gaza City, noting he has to "eat one meal a day, saving food for my children."

In the eastern Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood, Umm Ahmed, a mother of three, has been feeding her children only flatbread for several weeks. She fears losing her visibly emaciated and exhausted five-year-old son if food and medicine remain unavailable.

Acute malnutrition among children has reached record levels, with more than 12,000 children identified as acutely malnourished in July alone, a six-fold increase since the start of the year, the IPC report pointed out, adding that one in five babies is born prematurely or underweight, and about 43,400 children and 55,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women could face life-threatening malnutrition by mid-2026.

At Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, pediatrician Ahmed Yousef sees the facility receiving dozens of children suffering from severe malnutrition and related illnesses such as dehydration and anemia every day. "We are losing children due to the lack of specialized medicines and nutrients," he said.

Gaza-based health authorities on Friday recorded two more deaths because of starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of such fatalities to 273, including 112 children, since the latest round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in October 2023.

ANY HOPE?

Many analysts expect a famine declaration to carry weight, increasing pressure on the international community to ramp up supplies and on Israel to lift restrictions on aid.

"As the occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law -- including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population," Guterres said in Friday's statement, adding that this situation could not be allowed to continue with impunity.

The spread of famine can still be controlled if a ceasefire is reached and humanitarian organisations are allowed to deliver aid to starving people, Lazzarini added.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office rejected the report, denying the existence of famine in the Gaza Strip. Yet Ramallah-based political analyst Esmat Mansour pointed to the weight of the report based on a specific, internationally-agreed-upon system for gauging hunger crises, saying that states supporting Israel could face surging pressure from governments and agencies to ensure aid delivery.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Friday also called for decisive international action to compel Israel "to immediately halt the crimes of genocide, displacement, and annexation, as the only way to stop, contain, and address famine."