Some 41% of people in Gaza will face "catastrophic" levels of hunger in the coming months, a global authority on food security warned Thursday.
The report emerged as Israel came under increasing pressure, including from its most important ally, the United States, to allow in more essential humantiarian aid.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which sets a scale used by the United Nations and governments to assess hunger, said that there will be a persistent risk of famine in Gaza this winter unless more humanitarian aid reaches the Palestinian enclave.
The release also said that nine in 10 Gazans — roughly two million people — face “acute food insecurity” in the months ahead. and came as Reuters reported that the Israeli government has stopped processing requests from traders to import food to Gaza.
The move blocks a route that for the past six months has been used to supply more than half of the Palestinian territory’s provisions. Reuters spoke to 12 sources who confirmed the cessation: five Gaza-based importers, two businessmen sending goods from the West Bank, a Gaza-based business official and three people involved in aid delivery.
“The situation is getting desperate,” said Ibrahim Baraka, a resident of southern Gaza. “We have some non-perishable aid but there’s virtually no fresh produce anymore.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held an emergency meeting to discuss increased U.S. pressure to ramp up aid into Gaza and warnings that Washington would be “watching the matter.”
An Israeli official confirmed the Wednesday meeting to NBC News on Thursday, but did not provide further details about the discussion which was held on the same day that Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations issued a stern rebuke to Israel at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Washington had “made clear to the Israeli government at the highest levels, that it must do more to address the intolerable and catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” she said.
A “quote-unquote ‘policy of starvation’ in northern Gaza would be horrific and unacceptable and would have implications under international law and U.S. law.”
Noting that the Israeli government had said that was “not their policy,” she said the U.S. would be “watching” to ensure that Israel’s actions on the ground matched that assurance.
Her comments came after Joyce Msuya, the acting under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs told the meeting that “no food aid” had entered northern Gaza in the 13 days between Oct. 2 to Oct. 15.
While the U.N. only counts its own trucks, Israel includes commercial vehicles in its tallies.
“Given the abject conditions and intolerable suffering in north Gaza, the fact that humanitarian access is nearly non-existent is unconscionable,” Msuya said.
The meeting came after an unusually stern letter from the U.S. government threatened to review military assistance to the Israel government unless the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave started to improve.
The lengthy letter dated to Sunday and sent from Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and addressed to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.
According to a version published by Axios on Tuesday, the letter suggested that the U.S. would restrict weapons sales if the Israeli government did not allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
NBC News has not seen an original copy of the letter, which set out steps Israel must take within 30 days, including allowing a minimum of 350 trucks to enter Gaza each day, instituting humanitarian aid pauses in fighting and canceling needless civilian evacuation orders.
The Pentagon could not confirm to NBC News whether the letter published by Axios was the final version sent to the Israeli officials.
Acknowledging that the letter had been sent, Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, said Wednesday that Blinken and Austin “thought it was appropriate to make clear to the government of Israel that there are changes that they need to make again to see that the level of assistance making it into Gaza comes back up from the very, very low levels that it is at today,”
Asked about potential consequences for Israel if it did not comply, Miller said there were “provisions under U.S. law that require us to make certain certifications. And to make those certifications, we have to see that Israel is not arbitrarily denying humanitarian assistance making it into Gaza.”
While Miller did not mention this explicitly, provision 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act prevents the U.S. government from giving military assistance to a country restricting the delivery of humanitarian aid unless it triggers a legal waiver relating to national security interests.
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon maintained during the Security Council meeting that Israel's humanitarian efforts in Gaza had "remained as comprehensive as ever," despite warnings from the United Nations and World Food Program countering that claim.
And COGAT, the unit within the Israeli Defense Ministry responsible for civilian policy in Gaza, also announced Wednesday that 50 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment provided by Jordan, had been transferred earlier that day to the northern Gaza Strip “as part of the commitment to deliver humanitarian aid” to the enclave.”
People involved in aid distribution in Gaza told NBC News that several trucks had entered Gaza City in the north of the enclave, but that aid had not been distributed elsewhere in the north. NBC News has chosen not to name them for security reasons.
Thomas Greenfield also noted during the security council meeting that several dozens of aid had entered northern Gaza "for the first time in several weeks."
"But that's not enough. Many, many more deliveries are needed, and we will continue to push for that," she said.
