Gazans could face famine in six weeks, WFP official warns

The Gaza Strip is on the brink of a famine crisis, with food insecurity, malnutrition, and mortality expected to surpass critical levels within the next six weeks, Reuters reported yesterday citing the World Food Programme.

A U.N.-backed report warned of an imminent famine in northern Gaza by May, potentially spreading across the enclave by July, the source mentioned.

The United Nations has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza in the six months since Israel began an aerial and ground offensive against Hamas.

UN officials have warned that Gazans have been “selling off their belongings to buy food, are most of the time destitute, and clearly some of them are dying of hunger.”