PORTLAND, Oregon — The latest international evaluation of hunger in Gaza shows 1.1 million people, half of Gaza's population, are facing the most "catastrophic level" of hunger and are starving.
"The latest evidence confirms that Famine is imminent in the northern governorates and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024," said the IPC acute food security analysis.
Portland-based Mercy Corps has been delivering support to Gaza since 1986, but right now food supplies and other aid are for the most part stuck in warehouses outside of war-torn Gaza.
“I think the most galling thing about this is that this is entirely a man-made crisis," said Kate Phillips-Barrasso, vice president of policy and advocacy at Mercy Corps. "This is not a tsunami or climate-induced impacts creating, epic droughts. This is something that was man-created and frankly, could be prevented.”
Mercy Corps has been calling for an immediate and sustained cease-fire in Gaza for most of the war. They said the latest hunger evaluation makes it clear that the fighting must stop to allow mass-humanitarian aid to get to people who are now literally starving to death in Gaza.
“This is, from our perspective, the fastest that we've ever seen a population fall into such an abyss of hunger in such a short period of time,” said Phillips-Barrasso.
Mercy Corp said so far 27 people have died of starvation and 23 of them were children, which they believe is just the tip of the iceberg if things don't quickly change.
“Gazans cannot wait any longer," said Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, CEO of Mercy Corps. "The only way to change this deadly trajectory is an immediate and sustained ceasefire, an end to the siege, and the appropriate conditions for significantly increased humanitarian aid over land. Without urgent intervention, there will continue to be untold suffering, unnecessary loss of innocent lives, and a moral stain on our collective global conscience for years to come."
Mercy Corps has 60 Palestinian staff members in Gaza facing the same life and death challenges of those they seek to help.