Gaza (Quds News Network)- Famine has been confirmed for the first time in Gaza City and its surrounding areas, according to the Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC), the UN-backed global hunger monitor. The UN-backed scale issued a report on Friday morning in which it said that famine was taking place in Gaza City and surrounding areas, in an area home to around 500,000 displaced Palestinians. It has raised its classification for Gaza Governorate to Phase 5, the highest level, which is characterised by starvation, destitution and death. The same classification is projected to be extended to Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and Khan Younis in the south by the end of September. While the body had previously warned that famine was imminent across Gaza, it had stopped short of making a formal declaration. Another 1.07 million people – or 54 percent of Gaza’s population – are classified as being under Phase 4, or “emergency” conditions, while 396,000 people (20 percent) are under Phase 3, or “crisis” conditions. At least 132,000 children under five in Gaza are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition through next June, according to the latest IPC snapshot on the food security crisis in the territory. That’s more than double the estimates from the IPC, the international system for monitoring world hunger and food security, in May. This includes more than 41,000 severe cases of children at heightened risk of death. The report said “large segments” of Gaza’s population were consuming diets “that fall extremely short in both nutritional quantity and quality”. “Nutrition supplies for treating and preventing acute malnutrition are close to depletion due to entry restrictions, which may force health facilities to halt treatment,” it said. Meanwhile, nearly 55,500 malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women will require urgent nutrition responses, the body said. It declares famine if three criteria are met: at least 20 percent of households face an extreme lack of food, at least 30 percent of children are suffering acute malnutrition, and two out of every 10,000 are dying each day due to "outright starvation". “After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions, characterised by starvation, destitution and death,” the IPC briefing said.