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 the IPC noted that food consumption remained inadequate for most of the 2.1 million people living in the war-battered enclave. Last August, IPC confirmed famine, its most severe classification, in Gaza Governorate, which covers Gaza City. But the authority’s declaration last August of famine in parts of Gaza was its first in the Middle East. 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.