Tigray, home to six million people, has experienced severe food shortages for more than two years.

UN investigators charged Ethiopia’s government with purposefully starving civilians throughout the conflict by enforcing a de facto embargo on the northern area.

Humanitarian organizations issued warnings about famine-like circumstances as aid deliveries slowed to a trickle.

The claims were refuted by the government, which charged the rebel leaders in Tigray with appropriating food aid for their military campaign.

As combat stopped and electricity, banking, and communications gradually resumed in Tigray, a peace deal reached in November inspired cautious optimism.

However, according to Nigisti Solomon, a volunteer at one food bank supported by the US-based non-profit and advocacy group Tigray Action Committee, “the number of people coming to the feeding centers has increased.” She claimed that because there are so little resources available, many are turned away and sent back to the streets, where it’s typical to see emaciated individuals begging for food.