The classifications of famine in Somalia and South Sudan galvanised global action and spurred large donations. Aid workers and hunger experts point out that the hunger crisis in Gaza is already dire, with or without a famine classification, and aid is needed quickly.

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“For me, what is important is to basically say that, look, technically we haven’t met the conditions of a famine, and frankly we don’t want to meet those conditions,” said Arif Husain, chief economist of the World Food Program. “So please help, and please help now.”

What is the situation in Gaza?

Palestinians, particularly in the north, have been fighting starvation and regularly converge on the relatively few aid trucks that enter the territory. Aid groups say people are so hungry that they are resorting to eating leaves, donkey feed and food scraps.

The first IPC report on Gaza, released in December, found that the enclave’s entire population was experiencing food insecurity at crisis or worse levels. Although the group said Gaza had not yet crossed the famine threshold, it warned that the risk of famine-level hunger would increase if the war did not stop.

A second food-security analysis is now underway, the IPC group said.

What are the complications?

The December, IPC analysis relied on publicly available data from international and local aid groups in Gaza which the group said met its methodology standards. But IPC analysts said they lacked recent data on the prevalence of acute malnutrition. Getting that data is very difficult in a war zone and poses a burden on already overwhelmed healthcare workers, they added.

The organisation’s criteria were originally designed to address weather-related famine, not crises like the one in Gaza, Husain said. But most severe hunger crises in recent history have been driven by conflict rather than climate, he noted.

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And although IPC experts perform the analysis that can classify a famine, it is up to government authorities and the UN to formally declare one.

In some cases, countries have hesitated to do so. In 2022, Somalia’s president expressed reluctance to declare a famine during a severe hunger crisis brought on by a drought. And in 2021, Ethiopia blocked the declaration of famine in the Tigray region through heavy lobbying, according to a top UN official.

It is unclear exactly what authority could declare a famine in Gaza. The IPC group said the process typically involves a country’s government and its top UN official. Determining who that authority would be in Gaza was beyond the organisation’s scope, it said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.