UNITED
NATIONS, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Gaza City and surrounding areas are
officially suffering from famine, and it will likely spread, a global
hunger monitor determined on Friday, an assessment that will escalate
pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the Palestinian territory.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system said 514,000 people - close to a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza - are experiencing famine, with the number due to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.
Some
280,000 of those people are in a northern region covering Gaza City -
known as Gaza governorate - which the IPC said was in famine following
nearly two years of war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
It
was the first time the IPC has recorded famine outside of Africa, and
the global group predicted that famine conditions would spread to the
central and southern areas of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end
of next month.
It
added that the situation further north could be even worse than in Gaza
City, but that limited data prevented any precise classification.
Reuters has previously reported on the IPC's struggle to get access to data required to assess the crisis.
"It
is a famine that we could have prevented had we been allowed," said
U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher. "Yet food stacks up at borders
because of systematic obstruction by Israel"
Israel
dismissed the findings as false and biased, saying the IPC had based
its survey on partial data largely provided by Hamas, which did not take
into account a recent influx of food.
The
report was an "outright lie", said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. "It is a modern blood libel, spreading like wildfire through
prejudice. History will judge those who peddle it," he said in a
statement.
For
a region to be classified as in famine at least 20% of people must be
suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely
malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from
starvation or malnutrition and disease.
Previously, the IPC has only registered famines in Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.
U.N.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Gaza famine was a "man-made
disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself".
He called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages still held by Hamas and unfettered humanitarian access.
U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk warned that deaths from starvation could amount to a war crime.