Two-thirds of Gaza is still at crisis-level hunger, a year on

Punjab, Oct. 20 -- About 1.4 million people in Gaza - 67 per cent of the population - still face crisis-level hunger or worse, a year after the peace summit that was supposed to end the war. Food aid is being cut.

What the figure means

"Crisis level or worse" is not a descriptive phrase. It refers to IPC Phase 3 and above on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification - the scale humanitarian agencies use, where Phase 3 means households cannot meet minimum food needs without selling assets or going into debt, Phase 4 is emergency, and Phase 5 is famine.

Two-thirds of a population at Phase 3 or above, sustained over a year, is not a shortage. It is a condition. Acute malnutrition at that scale produces permanent effects in children ...