Famine is imminent and likely to occur in the next two months in northern Gaza, a UN-backed report said on Monday, after more than five months of war which have shattered the Palestinian territory, killed thousands and cut off supplies.

Across the whole of the besieged enclave, the number of people at risk of “catastrophic hunger” has risen to 1.1 million, about half the population, the report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said.

The assessment by the UN-backed initiative — a scale used by UN agencies, regional bodies and aid groups that sets the global standard on measuring food crises — comes amid global pressure on Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into the enclave of 2.3 million people. Some 300,000 are cut off by fighting in the north.

“Famine is now projected and imminent in the North Gaza and Gaza Governorates and is expected to become manifest during the projection period from mid-March 2024 to May 2024,” it said.

The EU accused Israel on Monday of provoking famine and using starvation as a weapon of war — claims that Israel rejects, saying it does not target civilians and is only interested in eliminating Hamas. The IPC uses a complex set of technical criteria. Its most extreme warning is Phase 5, which has two levels, catastrophe and famine.

Famine is assessed as at least 20 per cent of the population suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation. The report said that in northern Gaza the threshold for acute food insecurity had been far exceeded and the threshold for acute malnutrition had likely also been surpassed.