World Bank warns of ‘imminent’ catastrophic consequences of war in Gaza

Residents of the Palestinian enclave face severe famine

A World Bank report says there is an imminent risk of catastrophic famine in the Gaza Strip. Half the population of the Palestinian enclave faces imminent famine as food shortages approach catastrophic levels for more than a million people, the World Bank has warned.

Nearly six months after the war between Israel and Hamas began, the Washington-based World Bank said urgent action was needed to prevent mass deaths from starvation over the next two months.

According to The Guardian, the new data from the Bank comes after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Israel to provide immediate and unconditional access to Gaza to provide assistance by land.

“I call on the Israeli authorities to ensure full and unhindered access to humanitarian routes throughout Gaza,” the UN Secretary General said before meeting with the President of the European Commission in Brussels.

According to the Bank’s regular update, of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, 1.1 million were in the highest risk category – people caught in a disaster – which meant they were at risk of acute malnutrition or death. Another 854,000 people (38%) were in the next category—people in an emergency—where immediate action was required to save lives. The remaining 12% fell into the third category: people in crisis. No one in Gaza was classified into the bottom two categories – people experiencing stress or people in need of food security.

“Household surveys reveal alarming trends: almost all households are skipping meals every day, and a significant proportion of children under two years of age suffer from acute malnutrition,” the report says.

The World Bank said the predicted famine could begin any time between now and the end of May, with conditions exacerbated by a number of factors including ongoing military operations, widespread damage to infrastructure and limited humanitarian access hampering the delivery of essential supplies and services.

Citing the huge number of people facing catastrophic hunger, Guterres said leaders need to “act now before it is too late.” He also renewed calls for Hamas to unconditionally release all Israeli hostages.

UN Secretary-General Guterres will address EU leaders at a summit on Thursday, where they will be asked to accept conclusions calling on Israel to prevent famine. To put it in stark terms, the latest draft declaration now states that “full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access” to Gaza must be granted “to provide life-saving assistance and essential services to the civilian population on a large scale.”

Doctors Without Borders, which was granted access to Rafah two days ago to set up a temporary care center, said they were experiencing diarrhea due to poor sanitation and respiratory infections in children caused by living in tents during the winter.