There Appears to be No Famine in Gaza

The Associated Press recently reported that the leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises said nearly everyone in Gaza is struggling to get enough food and that more than 495,000 people, or greater than one-fifth of the population of 2.3 million, are expected to experience the highest level of starvation in the coming months.

The first warning of famine came on March 18 in a report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee, which stated famine was “projected and imminent” in northern Gaza and the Gazan governorates. Based on this kind of research, the head of the United Nations World Food Program said that northern Gaza has entered “full-blown famine” after nearly seven months of war between Israel and Hamas. The Committee stated that without a ceasefire and an immediate increase in humanitarian and commercial access to the entire population of Gaza, there would be a markedly increased “impact on mortality and the lives of Palestinians.”

However, the dire warnings from the United Nations, the U.S., EU and aid organizations of mass starvation and famine among civilians in northern Gaza are overstated. The IPC ignored so much relevant data and made bad assumptions and inferences that led them to conclude that Gazans were only getting 59-63 percent of their daily caloric needs, when in reality they were getting over 100 percent.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network, sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, reported that it was “possible, if not likely, that all the thresholds for Famine … were met or surpassed in northern Gaza in April.”

David Adesnik, senior fellow and director of research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Fox News Digital, “Leaders said that thousands of children were going to die, but it didn’t materialize, and no one seems to be trying to explain why.”

Adesnik pointed out that FEWS NET’s original assessment did not include calories obtained through World Food Program for bread or commercial and private sector foods, noting that the FRC initially found that “FEWS NET simply ignored 940 tons of sugar, flour, salt, and yeast that the World Food Program delivered to north Gaza bakeries. The tone of the FRC review was respectful, yet it exposed the extent to which FEWS NET made indefensible assumptions that all served to underestimate Israel’s efforts to help more food reach the people of northern Gaza.”

The claims, which have been widely reported in the international news media and which have been cited in cases in The Hague against the Jewish state, that rely on data from the IPC and from the warning systems, are inaccurate, according to the recent analysis by the Famine Review Committee.

Matt Lewis sent me a recent story in HonestReporting. For over 20 years, HonestReporting has been calling attention to the myths, miscalculations, and misinformation about Israel and amplified by traditional and social media. In their recent report they concluded:

* There is no evidence to suggest a famine in Gaza.
* Humanitarian food assistance has increased significantly and continues to do so on a month-to-month basis.
* The original classification ignored a significant number of commercial and privately contracted food truck deliveries, including those tracked by UNRWA, the World Food Program. Up to 82 percent of daily calorie provisions were excluded from their original analysis.
* There are additional barriers to access food including financial, social, and physical. Hamas should be held accountable for these.

Pictures taken recently in central Gaza show the Deir al Balah market full of meat, poultry, fruits, vegetables, coffee, and chocolate.