Experts are sounding the alarm: The threat of famine in the Gaza Strip is real. If nothing changes, famine would likely start in the northern end of the enclave by May. Half of the people still living in the area are already in dire straits, say experts from the multinational expert group that works on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative.

The IPC is made up of representatives from 19 international organizations, including the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, Oxfam, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, the World Food Programme, and Save the Children.

The IPC defines famine, the most serious level of its "food insecurity scale," as a situation where "at least 20% of the population is affected, with about one out of three children being acutely malnourished and two people dying per day for every 10,000 inhabitants due to outright starvation or to the interaction of malnutrition and disease."

The report says the current situation in Gaza will likely result in that scenario in the near future. Access to medical care, water and sanitation will also be limited.

"Access to sufficient clean water is a matter of life and death, and children in Gaza have barely a drop to drink," the director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in December. "Without safe water, many more children will die."

The conflict in Gaza is worsening a........

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