SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
For the first time, the world's leading authority on starvation has declared a famine outside of Africa. It's in Gaza, and they say it is human-caused, according to a panel of experts at the United Nations-supported group. This is as Israel prepares to occupy Gaza City in its fight against Hamask (ph) and risk displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians once again. NPR's Jane Arraf joins us from Amman, Jordan. Jane, thanks for being with us.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Thank you, Scott.
SIMON: This group, the IPC, has confirmed that there is a famine in northern Gaza. How did they determine that?
ARRAF: Well, they base it on data, and this is an international body that classifies levels of hunger. It's made up of U.N. and intergovernmental experts. Famine, of course, is the highest level of classification, and it's based on the percentage of households with severe food shortages and rates of child malnutrition and deaths that are attributable to starvation. And, Scott, it was a classification, but it's also a call to action because this group predicts that famine will spread to the center and south of Gaza within the next month if nothing is done.
SIMON: The U.N. and other international aid groups insist that the famine was preventable. What do they base that on?
ARRAF: Well, the big factors among them are Israel banning aid shipments to Gaza for more than two months earlier this year, and also the destruction of infrastructure and food production, most of it in Gaza itself. It's particularly damning, Scott, on an Israel and U.S.-backed group - the IPC report, I mean. This group is named the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and it was set up to replace the U.N. So the IPC, in its report, says GHF does not meet the criteria to be considered humanitarian aid. And it found that distribution, on average, lasted just 23 minutes a day on sites which were six hours walk to major centers. And that's distribution under armed security guards that have killed, according to Gaza health authorities, hundreds of people seeking aid. Here's the U.N.'s top humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher.
TOM FLETCHER: It is a predictable and a preventable famine. A famine caused by cruelty, justified by revenge, enabled by indifference and sustained by complicity.
ARRAF: He urged Israel to agree to a ceasefire and to open all the border crossings to get in the massive amounts of food that are needed.
SIMON: Jane, what has the reaction to this report been in Israel and in Gaza?
ARRAF: Well, the Israeli prime minister called the report outright lies and antisemitic. He said Israel has a policy of preventing starvation. But Israeli restrictions on the border and even statements by some Israeli government ministers don't bear that out. In Gaza, our producer Anas Baba on the ground spoke to people after the announcement. One of them, Adnan al-Sayam (ph), who's 65, said he ate only lentils yesterday, and although there's food in the market, hardly anyone can afford it.
ADNAN AL-SAYAM: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: He says, "people are starving. What do they want from these people after two years of war?"
SIMON: What is the U.S. position on these questions?
ARRAF: The State Department cast doubt on these findings, and the White House had no comment. Although President Trump has in the past acknowledged there is starvation in Gaza. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, blamed hunger in Gaza on Hamas stealing aid. But that's a claim that's been refuted by major aid organizations. There has been reaction in other countries. In the most senior international official to quit over Gaza, the Dutch foreign minister resigned in protest Friday after the government failed to agree on sanctions on Israel.
SIMON: And, Jane, of course, this report comes out as Israel prepares to seize Gaza City in its fight against Hamas. What's happening there?
ARRAF: Well, Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, has warned that they could level the Gaza Strip's biggest city. They haven't yet issued evacuation orders for the entire city, but they have started in some areas. And we have to remember that many residents of Gaza City have been displaced seven or eight times. There are a lot who can't leave. They're either disabled or sick or there's no transportation. And the places Israel is telling them to go to in the south aren't safe, either, because Israel is attacking there, too, in some places. President Trump has said he supports Israel continuing attacks to release Israeli hostages, but a lot of hostage families in Israel themselves disagree, and they fear their loved ones could be killed in this attack.
SIMON: NPR's Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan. Jane, thanks so much for being with us.
ARRAF: Thank you, Scott.
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