David Satterfield, the US special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Middle East, indicated on Tuesday that the risk of famine throughout the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, especially in the north, is “very severe,” calling for more efforts to deliver aid to those in need, especially To this part of the small, densely populated Palestinian enclave, although “Israel has taken important steps in the past few weeks regarding allowing aid into the Gaza Strip, there is still a lot of work to be done as the risk of famine” is severe in the sector.

In turn, Sonali Korde, Deputy Director General of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), who was accompanying Satterfield to his press conference at the State Department on Tuesday, said in her response to the Jerusalem correspondent’s question about whether famine could be avoided in Gaza: “ We don't know. The famine assessments are based on a very rigorous methodology followed by the International Classification Committee (IPC), the expert body that collects and reviews the data. So, we will wait for their decision. What I will say is that in order to address this problem, we not only need to get trucks in, we also need to get nutritional treatments, we need to get to the mothers and children who are most at risk, especially in northern Gaza. We need to get clean water to them. We need to provide health care for them."

She added: “I will say that with 29 percent of children under the age of two in northern Gaza showing signs of acute malnutrition - and this is what is stated in the IPC - reversing this trend will take time.

It takes at least six weeks to get a child suffering from the effects of malnutrition back on track. So, I don't know that we avoided that. "We're definitely trying, but we'll wait for the data and the experts to tell us what they see."

In turn, the envoy, Satterfield, refrained from talking about whether Washington was satisfied with the Israeli moves, weeks after US President Joe Biden called for measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying that it was possible to put conditions on the United States’ support for its ally Israel if Didn't move.

“Israel has taken important steps over the past two and a half weeks,” Satterfield told reporters. “A lot of work still needs to be done. But there is progress.”

The United Nations has long complained of obstacles facing the introduction and distribution of aid throughout Gaza over the course of six months since the beginning of the Israeli military campaign against Hamas, which runs the Strip.

The Israeli military campaign has destroyed large areas of the Strip, which has a population of 2.3 million, and has left a humanitarian catastrophe since October, when war broke out after Hamas attacked southern Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected what he described as "allegations" of famine in Gaza, during his meeting with the foreign ministers of Britain and Germany.

Netanyahu's office said in a statement, "The Prime Minister rejected the claims of international organizations regarding famine in Gaza," at a time when relief agencies and the United Nations are warning that the Gaza Strip is on the brink of famine as the war waged by Israel continues with the aim of eliminating the Hamas movement.