A REPORT ON August 22nd confirmed what many observers have long feared : parts of the Gaza Strip are now in famine. Analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification ( IPC ), which monitors food crises worldwide, estimates that more than half a million people are already in phase five—characterised by “extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition and starvation-related deaths”. For now the famine is centred in the governorate of Gaza, one of five in the strip. It is the most densely populated and home to Gaza city. By the end of September, famine is expected to spread south to the governorates of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis (see maps). The local ministry of health, which is run by Hamas, the militant Islamist group that still controls part of the strip, says more than

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