Ms. Power referred to the work of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative, a group of U.N. agencies and relief agencies which tracks acute food shortages, and which said in March that “famine is imminent” in Gaza.
Even before the war between Israel and Hamas, nearly 70 percent of Gazans were dependent on humanitarian assistance for food because the territory has been under Israeli and Egyptian blockade since 2007.
Nevertheless, malnutrition was rare, Ms. Power said in congressional testimony; that has changed swiftly with the war.
“In northern Gaza, the rate of malnutrition prior to Oct. 7 was almost zero, and it is now one in three kids,” she said.
She added: “In terms of actual severe acute malnutrition for under-5s, that rate was 16 percent in January and became 30 percent in February.
Persons:
Samantha Power, Power, ”, We’re
Organizations:
United States Agency for International Development, Integrated, Hamas
Locations:
Gaza, Israel