Geneva, Switzerland - Almost half a million people are still experiencing "catastrophic" hunger in Gaza, with famine still a high risk, a UN-backed assessment found Tuesday.

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report said March warning of imminent famine in the north of the Palestinian territory had not materialized.

"However, the situation in Gaza remains catastrophic and there is a high and sustained risk of famine across the whole Gaza Strip," the report said, warning against any complacency.

It said around 495,000 people – around 22% of the Gaza population, according to the UN – are still facing "catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity" known as IPC Phase 5.

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Another 745,000 people are classified as in a food security emergency.

The UN's World Food Programme said the new report "paints a stark picture of ongoing hunger."

"The improvement shows the difference that greater access can make. Increased food deliveries to the north and nutrition services have helped to reduce the very worst levels of hunger, leaving a still desperate situation," it said.

But it warned that in the south of Gaza, the situation was getting worse.

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"Hostilities in Rafah in May displaced more than a million people and severely limited humanitarian access," the WFP said. "Meanwhile, the security vacuum has fostered lawlessness and disorder which severely hamper humanitarian operations."

Israel has been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war since it launched its assault on Gaza following the October 7 Hamas-led attacks. Aid has been blocked from entering the besieged strip – often on spurious security grounds – the local food supply has been wiped out, and aid workers have been targeted in deadly attacks.

WFP said it "now fears that southern Gaza could soon see the same catastrophic levels of hunger previously recorded in the northern areas."

The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to halt its attack on Rafah in the south of Gaza and facilitate the unobstructed entry of aid, in an interim ruling as part of a genocide case brought by South Africa.