RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The world’s leading authority on food insecurity said Thursday that the situation in Gaza had improved since famine was declared in parts of the Palestinian territory last year, but warned that conditions remained at crisis levels and could slip back into catastrophe.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said a reduction in fighting as well as Israel allowing more aid into Gaza had driven improvements. But it noted that food consumption remained inadequate for most of the 2.1 million people living in the war-battered enclave.

“Improved access and reduced conflict intensity following the October 2025 ceasefire enabled a major scale-up of aid operations, generating significant impact, albeit unevenly across areas,” it said, warning “even small disruptions to humanitarian access could rapidly reverse recent gains.”

The designation underscored how conditions in Gaza have both markedly improved since last year and remain at crisis levels without immediate prospects for recovery. More than 1,185 people have been killed by Israeli strikes and shelling since last October’s agreement, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Israel controls more than half the territory, leaving Palestinians confined to squalid tent camps and heavily damaged urban neighborhoods. Failing sewage systems have contributed to routine disease outbreaks and left residents with inconsistent access to basic services.

The IPC assesses hunger crises by measuring indicators of acute malnutrition and famine, including how many households are experiencing extreme food shortages, how many young children show bodily signs of malnutrition and how many people are dying from starvation.

It uses five phases to classify food insecurity. Last August, IPC confirmed famine, its most severe classification, in Gaza Governorate, which covers Gaza City. Thursday’s report classified all five governorates in the territory as being in Phase 3 “crisis” conditions while estimating that more than 200,000 residents were experiencing Phase 4 “emergency” conditions.

It has declared famines in other places, including parts of Sudan and Somalia. But the authority’s declaration last August of famine in parts of Gaza was its first in the Middle East.

Israel strenuously denied allegations of widespread hunger and manmade famine in Gaza, calling them lies. But after imposing an almost total blockade on humanitarian aid from early March to mid-May last year, it began allowing more aid into the territory.

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This week’s assessment was IPC’s first since December 2025, when it said famine in Gaza City had not spread as feared, downgrading the governorate’s classification to Phase 4.

COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing humanitarian affairs in Gaza, said it “strongly rejects the claims and conclusions” in the report because it lacked objectivity and did not take into account Israel’s data about the amount of aid entering.

Despite improvements, malnutrition still poses a widespread threat, especially to Palestinian children

As the world’s attention has shifted to Iran, efforts to advance reconstruction, demilitarize Gaza or transition governance to a U.S.-led Board of Peace have mostly stalled. “Measurable improvements in humanitarian access and overall conditions” have taken hold since Israel and Hamas signed on to an agreement that decreased the intensity of fighting, IPC said. It warned such gains were fragile and partial.

Even with improvements, Gaza’s widespread destruction has left it almost wholly dependent on humanitarian aid, the report warns. Palestinians have lost their livelihoods and access to most of the territory’s agricultural land, which lies in the more than half of Gaza that remains under Israel’s control.

The IPC cautioned about some indicators pointing to renewed deterioration. It said household food consumption has improved and acute malnutrition — a form of undernutrition that can be life-threatening — has “declined significantly.” Still, roughly 1.4 million people are expected to face acute food insecurity through the end of the year, about 200,000 more than the IPC projected in its previous assessment covering mid-April through June of this year.

The prolonged nature of the crisis has contributed to a rise in reported cases of “stunting,” a condition in which children’s growth is permanently impaired by malnutrition. IPC said the rise in stunting reflected “the cumulative impact of inadequate conditions” and would have “lasting consequences for growth and cognitive development.”

Almost 75,000 children under five will require treatment for acute malnutrition between now and April 2027. Almost 25,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are expected to experience acute malnutrition over the same period, though the number benefiting from supplementary feeding programs has declined “due to funding constraints and uncertainty” over whether Israel will continue allowing international aid groups to operate, the report said.

Israel introduced new registration rules for international NGOs last year that require organizations to disclose extensive information that aid workers say could endanger staff and compromise humanitarian operations. Aid organizations say the rules could force some groups to halt operations in Gaza.