Gaza: It can take months to officially declare a famine – but first damage to a child's body is counted in days

A Palestinian boy has his arm measured for malnutrition at a medical tent in Rafah, Gaza. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Mahmoud Issa, Adolfo Arranz, Mariano Zafra, Jitesh Chowdhury and Tom Perr

Nearly 166 million people worldwide are estimated to need urgent action against hunger, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global partnership which measures food insecurity.

That includes nearly everyone in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military launched an offensive in October following an attack on Israel by Hamas militants. More than one million of Gaza's inhabitants face the most extreme form of malnutrition – classified by the IPC as 'Catastrophe or Famine.'