The population of the Gaza Strip is suffering “unprecedented” levels of “near famine-like conditions” as the Israel-Hamas fighting drags on, according to the UN’s agriculture agency.

Some 550,000 people are now likely facing catastrophic food insecurity levels, while the whole population is in crisis mode, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.

“There are unprecedented levels of acute food insecurity, hunger, and near famine-like conditions in Gaza,” FAO Deputy Director General Beth Bechdol said in an interview published by the Rome-based agency.

“We are seeing more and more people essentially on the brink of and moving into famine-like conditions every day,” she said.

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