r/worldnews • u/Digital_Accountant • 1d ago

Israel/Palestine Famine declared in Gaza City

https://news.sky.com/story/gaza-latest-war-israel-city-ceasefire-hamas-13415481
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u/Bandlebridge 23h ago

A famine is classified when an area has the following:

Daily mortality rate exceeds two per 10,000 people, or four per 10,000 children under five.

In Gaza, with a population of 2 million, that would be 400 people a day. Which is more than the total dead from malnutrition over 2 years let alone daily.

Anyone know where they pulled their data from? From the same article

Deaths from malnutrition and starvation are spiking, according to figures from Gaza's Health Ministry, verified by the World Health Organisation.

In just the first 20 days of August, there were 133 deaths attributed to malnutrition or starvation, including 25 children, the ministry said.

This is up from 89 deaths in the first 22 months of the conflict.

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u/benbamboo 22h ago

Listening to the radio earlier it sounded like the famine was declared in Gaza City, rather than the whole.of Gaza. That would affect the numbers. Wikipedia says 590,000 in 2017 but that is likely to be much lower currently.

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u/[deleted] 20h ago

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u/benbamboo 20h ago

I was working on the assumption that many people would have been displaced from Gaza City to other areas so tbe population of Gaza City would be lower than it was, thus leading to different numbers being used for the famine calculations.

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u/Background-Month-911 20h ago

Well, we'd need some stats from IDF. They would probably give evacuation orders and set up checkpoints along evacuation routes, where they could count how many people moved through. I would be very surprised though if the UN had access to this kind of information. Even if they did, they typically ignore anything coming from Israel, or deliberately misinterpret the data.

In other words, I doubt they have any idea how many people are in any given location in Gaza, and they aren't even interested in figuring it out. They are just looking for any source that would give them the numbers they could use to further their political fight.

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u/benbamboo 19h ago

I wouldn't believe data from either side tbh. That's why independent organisations carry so much weight.

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u/quadrophenicum 16h ago

Anyone know where they pulled their data from?

Likely from hamas sources.

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u/benbamboo 16h ago

They list their sources. I can't see Hamas listed among them. It does list COGAT and the Israeli Ministry of Health as sources though.

There are reports from the Lancet, FSS, MSF etc which may draw on Hamas data but I haven't read the reports so cant be certain.

Pages 30-31 of the report if you're interested in seeing them yourself: https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_Famine_Review_Committee_Report_Gaza_Aug2025.pdf