'Worst-case' famine possible in Gaza as 1.84 million acutely malnourished, report says

Gaza is in the grip of a food emergency as 1.84 million people in the enclave suffer from acute malnutrition at a level 10 times higher than before the Israel-Hamas war began, a new report says.

"Given the recent surge in hostilities, there are growing concerns that this worst-case scenario may materialize," according to a report released by the International Food Security Phase Classification initiative on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration threatened to stop arms shipments to Israel if the number of aid shipments allowed into the beseiged coastal territory did not increase.

From September to this month, the entire territory's population is classified as Level 4, or experiencing a food emergency, the report says. In the coming months, the population experiencing food catastrophe, the fifth and highest level, will likely triple, the report said.

More: Israel says it killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar

Aid workers and U.N. officials have warned of widespread famine in Gaza since the conflict began more than a year ago on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters overran the border with Israel and killed 1,200 Israelis. Israel's siege of Gaza in response has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and plunged the territory into a humanitarian crisis.

"There is famine – full-blown famine – in the north, and it's moving its way south," Cindy McCain, director of the World Food Programme, said in May . The U.N. first warned that famine was "imminent" in parts of Gaza in mid-March.

More: U.S. warns Israel to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza or risk losing access to weapons

Winter's arrival also could bring colder temperatures and heighten the risk of transmitted diseases as clean water runs short, according to the new report.

The fighting has already destroyed 70% of Gaza's crop fields and dismantled livelihoods and food systems, the report found. Conflict has severely hampered humanitarian operations and collapsed public health services and accessible water and sanitation systems.

Nearly 2 million people are displaced, and most are living in makeshift tents "with an alarming density" of nearly 24,800 people per square mile, according to the report.

The World Health Organization on Tuesday launched a program to vaccinate tens of thousands of children in Gaza after the fighting restricted vaccine access and caused flare-ups of polio in the enclave.

Israel's military and Hamas had negotiated pauses in the fighting for the vaccination program, but the U.N. said an Israeli strike Monday evening struck a refugee tent camp near al Aqsa Hospital, killing four people and and injuring dozens, including children. Graphic video of the strike's aftermath appeared to show a person burning alive.

News of the strike prompted condemnations from the Biden administration the next day. "We have made our concerns clear to the Israeli government,” said Sean Savett, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

In a letter to their Israeli counterparts the same day, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned Israel that it must increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza or risk losing military aid.

"We are writing now to underscore the U.S. government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory," they wrote.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Worst-case' famine possible in Gaza as 1.84 million acutely malnourished, report says