In brief
In an emotional account, Rida Hijjeh shares that her daughter, Lamia, has lost nearly half her body weight due to the famine in Gaza City. As the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification raises its alert level to Phase 5, the situation remains dire with food insecurity expected to worsen. The Israeli government, however, disputes claims of starvation in the region, calling the reports lies.
A mother has told the BBC her five-year-old daughter has lost almost half of her body weight due to the famine in Gaza City. Lamia Hijjeh, whose family has been displaced several times during the war, has lost 8.5 kg and cannot walk, according to her mother Rida. On Friday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) raised its classification to Phase 5, the highest and worst level of its acute food insecurity scale. It states that famine is confirmed in the Gaza Governorate, which includes Gaza City and its surrounding areas, with 'catastrophic conditions' projected to expand to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September. Israel has denied there was starvation in Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemning the IPC report as an 'outright lie.'
