security

May 12 (UPI) — Gaza is under the threat of widespread famine as nearly 500,000 Palestinians are facing catastrophic food insecurity, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification reported on Monday.

About 96% of the population in the Gaza strip is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, classified as Phase 4, the organization says. About 22% are classified as facing catastrophic acute food insecurity — Phase 5 — which is described as “an extreme lack of food, starvation and exhaustion of coping capacities.”

“Goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks,” the organization said, according to the United Nations. “The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity. In a scenario of a protracted and large-scale military operation and continuation of the humanitarian and commercial blockade, there would be a critical lack of access to supplies and services that are essential to survival.”

This comes two months after Israel instituted a total blockade of Gaza, cutting off humanitarian aid.

The United States has thrown its support behind a plan to deliver private aid to Gaza, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Friday. He did not say when aid will begin to arrive.

“It is going to require the partnership not only of governments but of [non-government organizations], charitable organizations and nonprofits from around the world,” Huckabee said.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification shared skepticism of the plan for Israel to distribute aid into Gaza, citing “significant access barriers for large segments of the population.” It adds that the proposal is highly insufficient.

The organization warns that the Gaza Strip is likely to fall into a Phase 5 risk of famine by the end of September if Israel’s large-scale military operation continues.

“The latest announcements suggest that this worst-case scenario is becoming more likely,” the IPC’s report says.

U.N. High Commissioner for Humanitarian Rights Volker Turk echoed IPC’s skepticism of Israel’s plan. Turk said in a statement that it threatens the existence of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“This would only compound the misery and suffering inflicted by the complete blockade on the entry of basic goods for almost nine weeks now,” Turk said in a statement. “Gaza’s residents have already been deprived of all lifesaving necessities, particularly food, with relentless Israeli attacks on community kitchens and those trying to maintain a minimum of law and order. Any use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of war constitutes a war crime.”

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continued throughout the weekend into Monday. A school for Palestinian refugees, operated by the United Nations, was struck in the attacks on Saturday. Four people were killed in a bombing at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency facility in North Gaza on Friday.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reports 52,862 Palestinians have been killed and 119,648 have been injured in the conflict.

The Trump administration announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, a state program that provides monthly cash benefits to aged, blind, and disabled non-citizens who are ineligible for Social Security benefits due to their immigration status.

The investigation began in Los Angeles, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles field office issuing a Title 8 subpoena to California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release.

According to the department, the subpoena requests all records from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, the agency that administers the state program, to determine if ineligible immigrants received supplemental security income from the Social Security Administration over the last four years.

“Radical left politicians in California prioritize illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens access to cash benefits,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.

“The Trump Administration is working together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally,” Noem added. “If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over. While this subpoena focuses only on Los Angeles County — it is just the beginning.”

According to Homeland Security, its Los Angeles investigations field office is subpoenaing records including applicants’ name and date of birth, copies of applications, immigration status, proof of ineligibility for benefits from the Social Security Administration and affidavits that supported the application.

The investigation comes after President Trump signed a presidential memorandum on April 15 to stop immigrants lacking documentation from obtaining Social Security Act benefits in what he called a bid to stop incentivizing illegal immigration and protect taxpayer dollars.

The memorandum directed the secretary of Homeland Security to ensure unauthorized immigrants do not receive funds from Social Security programs and prioritized civil or criminal enforcement against states or localities for potential violations of Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

It also expanded the Social Security Administration’s fraud prosecutor program to at least 50 U.S. attorney ofices and established a Medicare and Medicaid fraud-prosecution program in 15 U.S. attorney offices.

This is a developing story and will be updated.