JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
In recent weeks, images of people suffering from lack of food in Gaza have provoked an intensifying global outrage - emaciated children - skin and bones - in the arms of their also-thin mothers. In July alone, there were more than 60 malnutrition-related deaths, including 25 children. That is according to the World Health Organization. And today, an alert from a U.N.-backed food security experts confirm what many have feared - famine is unfolding in Gaza. NPR's Fatma Tanis joins us to talk about this. Hi there.
FATMA TANIS, BYLINE: Hi.
SUMMERS: Fatma, tell us about this alert. What does it say?
TANIS: So this is coming from the IPC. It's a U.N.-affiliated group that keeps track of food security around the world. Today, they said what's going on in Gaza is a, quote, "worst-case scenario of famine." The latest data they have going up to July 25 shows widespread starvation and malnutrition. And the group says, quote, "immediate, unimpeded" humanitarian access is the only way to stop starvation and death.
SUMMERS: All right, but if I understand, this is not an official declaration of famine. So what would need to happen for that to occur?
TANIS: That's right. So there are three thresholds that need to be met for an official declaration of famine. The IPC has the data for two of them - starvation and malnutrition. It needs more data for the third - how many people have died of starvation. A full analysis is coming soon from the group. Typically, though, by the time experts have been able to declare famine, many people will have already died. And today, in response to the report, Israel's foreign minister said the situation in Gaza is, quote, "tough" and that they are not limiting aid.
SUMMERS: So tell us, if you can, what are families, people there in Gaza, able to eat now?
TANIS: Fundamentally, food is not available for the more than 2 million Palestinians there. There's a very small supply of local vegetables, like some eggplant, zucchini, rarely maybe onion or garlic. Now, before things got so bad, people could at least eat bread. Now, flour is very expensive, and there's not enough of it. So even if you have money, you can't buy food.
And it's not just food, though, because there's a serious shortage of fuel and water for cooking and drinking. And the IPC report said today that nearly 9 out of 10 families in Gaza have to resort to extreme coping measures. I asked Beckie Ryan with the aid group CARE - she's in Gaza right now - to tell us what she's hearing from mothers who come to their clinic.
BECKIE RYAN: Some of the coping mechanisms they've had to resort to is choosing which child, you know, will be fed that day. You know, are they going to buy supplies for the baby, or are they going to buy something that the 5-year-old can eat?
TANIS: Aid workers also told me they're seeing children rummaging through garbage daily, but not finding any food.
SUMMERS: Wow. Well, since the weekend, Israel has allowed in a trickle of aid, including air drops of relief supplies. Has there been any noticeable change on the ground in the last few days?
TANIS: Aid groups say no, nothing has changed. Yesterday, only a few U.N. trucks carrying flour were allowed in. They were looted. Air drops, they say, are too expensive and ineffective and don't reach the people who need it the most. Often they can cause injury or death. And aid groups say in order for there to be real impact, Israel needs to allow hundreds of trucks of food and other supplies every single day, starting now.
SUMMERS: I mean, Fatma, it's undeniable that what is happening there in Gaza is terrible, but it is not the only place, unfortunately, that is currently grappling with a severe and deadly food crisis. And yet, this crisis, it's the one that we're all talking about.
TANIS: That's right. And I've had several conversations with humanitarian officials about this. Simply put, they say the Gaza crisis is distinct because of the levels of restrictions on humanitarian aid. Here's Elinor Raikes. She's with the International Rescue Committee.
ELINOR RAIKES: The acute challenge for Gaza is that, more so than other places, politicians have the means to make this go away. This can change within days if humanitarian access is allowed. And that's not the same necessarily in other countries.
TANIS: In Sudan, for example, the world's largest humanitarian crisis, there are other challenges in addition to conflict, like floods that can block roads for months, keeping aide out, supply chain issues. But with Gaza, the aid groups say, it's different. The food is right there across the border, waiting to be let in.
SUMMERS: NPR's Fatma Tanis, thank you so much.
TANIS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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