A UN-backed body confirms famine in Gaza City and surrounding areas, and says half a million are facing "catastrophic" conditions.

Famine has been determined in Gaza Governorate, where Gaza City is located, according to a warning issued Friday by the IPC.

For now the famine is centred in the governorate of Gaza, one of five in the strip. It is the most densely populated and home to Gaza city. By the end of September, famine is expected to spread south to the governorates of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis (see maps).

Israel has systematically obstructed food entering Gaza, aid agencies say, as a UN-backed body confirms a famine.

Famine is now occurring in Gaza City, according to the world’s leading authority on food crises. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification released an analysis saying more than half a million people in Gaza are trapped in famine,

David Lammy has condemned the famine in Gaza as “utterly horrifying” and a “man-made catastrophe” caused by Israel.

A mother has told the BBC her five-year-old daughter has lost almost half of her body weight due to the famine in Gaza City. Lamia Hijjeh, whose family has been displaced several times during the war, has lost 8.5kg and cannot walk, according to her mother Rida.

By Olivia Le Poidevin and Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA CITY/GENEVA/CAIRO (Reuters) -The hunger crisis in Gaza is at a tipping point, with critically low supplies of fortified milk and special nutritious pastes exacerbating food shortages and pushing greater numbers of children into starvation,