Palestinian women cry where a relative is believed to be trapped in debris following Israeli bombardment in Rafah on Thursday. AFP

More than half a million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving, according to a report on Thursday by the UN and other agencies that highlights the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's bombardment and siege on the territory in response to Hamas' Oct.7 attack.

The report warned that the risk of famine is "increasing each day,” blaming the hunger on insufficient aid entering Gaza. "It doesn’t get any worse,’’ said Arif Husain, chief economist for the UN’s World Food Programme. "I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza. And at this speed.”

The five-scale food insecurity classification, known as the IPC, forecast in its "most likely scenario" that by February 7 "the entire population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.2 million people)" would be at "crisis or worse" levels of hunger.

"This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country," it said.

International alarm has mounted over the plight of Gazans enduring daily bombardment, food and water shortages and mass displacement.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) rates hunger levels from one to five.

The report warned that some 50 per cent of the population are forecast to be in the "emergency" phase — which includes very high acute malnutrition and excess mortality — by February 7. And "at least one in four households," over half a million people, would be facing "Phase 5" catastrophic conditions, it predicted.

"Even though the levels of acute malnutrition and non-trauma related mortality might not have yet crossed famine thresholds, these are typically the outcomes of prolonged and extreme food consumption gaps," it said.

International humanitarian organisation CARE said the figures were "alarming."

Agencies