Samantha Power, the director of the US Agency for International Development, has said that a famine is underway in the northern Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by six months of Israeli military operations including a near-total blockade.

Power is the first senior US official to say that famine has begun in Gaza, where aid agencies and global experts have warned for months that nearly all 2.2 million Palestinians would soon face extreme hunger.

Her comments came during congressional testimony on Wednesday, when she was asked by Representative Joaquin Castro about news reports that staff members from her agency had sent cables to the National Security Council that said famine had begun in parts of Gaza.

“Do you think it is plausible or likely that parts of Gaza, and in particular northern Gaza, are already experiencing famine?” Castro asked.

Power replied that that appeared to be the case, and cited an assessment by the global Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative, whose methodology she described as sound. She did not specify what assessment she was referring to. Last month the initiative said in a report that the food shortage in Gaza had become so severe that “famine is imminent” for the northern part of the enclave, which has been all but cut off from relief deliveries.

“That is their assessment and we believe that assessment is credible,” Power said.

“So famine is already occurring there?” Castro replied.

“That is — yes,” Power said.

She said later in her testimony that the rate of severe malnutrition among children in Gaza had become “markedly worse” since October 7, when a Hamas-led terrorist attack prompted Israel to launch its military offensive in Gaza.

“In northern Gaza, the rate of malnutrition prior to October 7 was almost zero, and it is now almost 1 in 3 kids,” she said. “In terms of actual severe malnutrition for under-5s, that rate was 16 per cent in January and became 30 pr cent in February. We are waiting for the March numbers but we expect that to continue.”

Power urged Congress to “press our Israeli partners to actually follow through with the commitments they have made” to allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

She also said the US had seen no evidence from its partner organizations that Hamas was seizing food aid on a significant scale.

New York Times News Service