After 7 October 2023, the Israeli government narrowed its definition of humanitarian aid to the delivery through the Gaza crossings of foodstuffs in quantities determined by the minimum calories needed by the population within the strip’s ‘humanitarian zones’ – a small fraction of the territory where people were ordered to congregate ‘for their own safety’, their lives minutely subject to the diktats of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and their quadcopter drones, bombers, snipers and mobile artillery. Normally, the IPC and the Famine Review Committee await new data before releasing a statement, but data-gathering in northern Gaza had become impossible and the Famine Review Committee took the unprecedented step of issuing an alert although it didn’t have new statistical updates.