Ammon News - The UN Security Council is set to hold a session this evening to discuss the famine in northern Gaza, at the request of Algeria, Guyana, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

The request for the session comes in the wake of a recent report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee warning of an imminent and significant risk of famine in northern Gaza due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Strip.

The Famine Review Committee stressed that “immediate action is needed within days, not weeks, by all actors to avert this catastrophic situation.”

The Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis at the World Food Programme, Jean-Martin Bauer, said that there is a strong risk of famine in parts of northern Gaza due to the large-scale displacement, reduced trade and humanitarian flows into Gaza, the destruction of infrastructure and health facilities, and the difficult situation related to the work of UNRWA.

He added that WFP had seen “a significant decrease in the number of trucks entering Gaza in late October,” noting that only 58 trucks entered daily, compared to about 200 during the summer, and most of the trucks that entered were carrying humanitarian aid.

He said that the drop in aid flows has doubled food prices in northern Gaza in recent weeks, and they are now “almost ten times higher than before the October events,” he added. The warning is a reminder that “the eyes of the world must be on Gaza, and action is needed now.”

“International humanitarian law requires that civilians have access to the essentials they need to survive: food, shelter, medical care and other vital assistance,” said Stephanie Tremblay, UN deputy spokesperson. “Our humanitarian colleagues also stress the need to protect civilians in the north and throughout Gaza.”

On 5 October 2024, Israeli forces launched a new ground offensive in northern Gaza, imposing a tight blockade and blocking the flow of humanitarian aid, medicine, water and food supplies, besieging hospitals, rendering most of them out of service, and bombing shelters.

The occupation forces have continued their aggression on the Strip since October 7, 2023, resulting in the killing and injury of more than 146,000, most of whom are children and women.

WAFA