'Catastrophic': Residents, aid organizations describe conditions in northern Gaza

>According to a December report by the United Nations into food insecurity in Gaza, "At least one in four households (more than half a million people) in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic acute food insecurity conditions (IPC Phase 5 – Catastrophe), characterized by extreme food gaps and collapse of their livelihood."

>The International Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is an international framework used to assess food insecurity and malnutrition. The IPC contains five phases of hunger crisis, ranging from phase 1 (minimal/none) to phase 5 (catastrophe/famine).

>The situation is the worst in northern Gaza where "45% of households will be experiencing IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) levels of acute food insecurity and 30% of households will experience IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe) levels of acute food insecurity," the report said.

>"In Gaza at this moment, literally the whole population is in crisis level of hunger or worse. And of those people, about 26%, meaning one-quarter of the population is literally starving. In number terms, we are talking about 577,000 people," World Food Program's Chief Economist Arif Husain told ABC News Friday.

>"We are seeing a situation where there's no food at all or very, very little, if any," Maulid Wafa, senior emergency coordinator for UNICEF in Gaza, told ABC News Friday.