USAID administrator says there's 'credible' evidence of famine in Gaza

Top US humanitarian official said Wednesday it is “credible” that famine is occurring in portions of Gaza as Israel-Hamas fighting continues.

US officials have warned of famine in the war-torn strip, but USAID Administrator Samantha Power is the first to officially acknowledge it.

The evaluation may increase calls for the administration to limit military funding to Israel. The Foreign Assistance Act forbids aid to countries that “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”

Top Biden administration officials, including President Joe Biden, have warned Israeli leaders to handle the Gaza humanitarian crisis soon or risk US policy changes.

“Israel has made important commitments to significantly increase the supply of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza and has taken some initial actions as well to move on those commitments,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday, “but what matters is results, and sustained results, and this is what we will be looking at very carefully in the days ahead.”

Power said "in northern Gaza, the rate of malnutrition, before October 7, was almost zero." It currently affects one in three kids.”

“Food has not flowed in sufficient quantities to avoid this imminent famine in the south and these conditions that are giving rise already to child deaths in the north,” she said.