"It's a technical term that sort of encapsulates a series of conditions," said Tobias Stillman, Action Against Hunger's director of technical services and innovation. "So very significant food insecurity, meaning people don't have sufficient food to support their physiological need ... so they are both experiencing hunger and physiologically in many cases, compensating for the lack of food."

“The resolution has not been a game changer, but it has raised the political profile of hunger,” said Michelle Brown, associate director of advocacy at Action Against Hunger.

Action Against Hunger calls for immediate ceasefire as 80% of Gaza faces dire famine conditions, with humanitarian efforts hampered by bombardment and blockade.

The risk of famine in Gaza is “imminent” according to one new assessment published Monday March 18 by the Integrated Food Security Classification Framework (IPC), a partnership between international agencies (World Food Program, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – FAO –, Unicef, World Bank, etc.) and non-governmental organizations (Action Against Hunger, Care, Oxfam, etc.), responsible for assessing the most acute food crises.

The Gaza Strip faces unprecedented disease outbreaks this summer caused by piles of uncollected waste rotting in the heat, fuelling further misery for residents already suffering from food shortages, according to Action Against Hunger.

“The combination of incessant shelling, shortages of food, water, fuel, and the inability of humanitarian agencies to operate in Gaza has caused this desperate situation,” said Chiara Saccardi, Regional Head of Action Against Hunger in the Middle East via a statement on December 21st.

Parts of Gaza are at high risk of famine according to a new report released today, which classified 378,000 people as facing “catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity.”

The end of the ceasefire and the resumption of Israel's bombing of Gaza had jeopardized humanitarian efforts in the besieged enclave, Action Against Hunger warned, adding that canned food was scarce in local markets while concerns were rising as the vegetable harvest faced imminent depletion.

Jean-Raphael Poitou, of Action Against Hunger, told AFP that "solar panels and generators, for instance "are included in the banned list of "dual-use" items. "It's the sort of thing we need to be able to meet needs in Gaza more efficiently," he said.

Before the war, cases of acute malnutrition like those being recorded today were non-existent, international NGO Action Against Hunger noted in a recent report on conflict-induced hunger in Gaza. Jack Seal, communications officer at Action Against Hunger, explained to The New Arab that a state of famine can only be declared when certain criteria is met.