WASHINGTON (March 28, 2024) The Alliance to End Hunger continues to be alarmed by the persistent and catastrophic food security situation in the Gaza Strip and continuing hunger crises across the world and calls upon world leaders to ensure humanitarian access to populations facing crisis levels of hunger including famine.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP)– “1.1 million people in Gaza – half of the population – have completely exhausted their food supplies and coping capacities and are struggling with catastrophic hunger and starvation,” with WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain stating that “people in Gaza are starving to death right now.” Simultaneously, Samer Abdel Jaber of WFP states that the organization has enough food to “feed the entire population of Gaza” waiting outside of the Gaza Strip. Any barriers preventing the movement of lifesaving food from safely reaching the people in need must be removed to avert further starvation.
The situation in Gaza amplifies continuing impediments to humanitarian access around the world. Globally, up to 783 million people are facing chronic hunger. WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have designated 18 hunger “hotspots” in the world representing the most dire food insecurity situations, with conflict as one of the largest drivers of hunger. For example, in Sudan, over one third of the population is categorized as in a food insecurity crisis or worse due to ongoing conflict and internal displacement. Continuing conflict in Yemen has driven 45 percent of the population into crisis or higher, including 13 percent on the brink of starvation. In Haiti, where violent gangs and an uncertain political future have gripped the nation, a similar 45 percent of the population faces crisis or worse.
The lack of access to food for these vulnerable populations is intolerable. Starvation is both man-made and preventable with sufficient public and political will. Humanitarian access to hungry people should not be a bargaining chip in negotiations in any conflict around the world, and the Alliance urges all global parties to work together to guarantee urgently needed humanitarian/food assistance gets to the people in need everywhere in the world to ensure that no man, woman or child starves to death.
