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Key Points
  • A UN-backed famine review committee has found more than half a million people in Gaza are experiencing famine.
  • Its report identified evidence of famine in Gaza City and surrounding areas between July and mid August.
  • Israel rejects the claim of famine calling the report “unprofessional”.
Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine, and it will likely spread, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee determined on Friday.
The UN-backed group said 514,000 people — close to a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza — are experiencing famine, with the number due to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.
Some 280,000 of those people are in a northern region covering Gaza City — known as Gaza governorate — which the IPC said was in famine following nearly two years of war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
It was the first time the IPC has recorded famine outside of Africa, and the global group predicted that famine conditions would spread to the central and southern areas of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month.

It added that the situation further north could be even worse than in Gaza City, but limited data prevented any precise classification.

Israel dismissed the findings as false and biased, saying the IPC had based its survey on partial data largely provided by Hamas, which did not take into account a recent influx of food.
The report was an “outright lie”, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Israel does not have a policy of starvation,” he said in a statement. “Israel has a policy of preventing starvation. Since the beginning of the war Israel has enabled 2 million tons of aid to enter the Gaza Strip, over one ton of aid per person.”

How is famine classified?

The IPC — an initiative involving 21 aid groups, UN agencies and regional organisations funded by the European Union, Germany, Britain and Canada — has only registered famines four times previously — in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020 and in Sudan in 2024.

For a region to be classified as in famine at least 20 per cent of people must be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease.
Following the announcement, United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said it was a “21st century famine, watched over by drones and the most advanced military technology in history”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Gaza famine was a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself”.

He called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages still held by Hamas and unfettered humanitarian access.

IPC says famine-related mortality could escalate

Israel controls all access to Gaza. COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows, said the IPC report ignored Israeli data on aid deliveries and was part of an international campaign aimed at denigrating Israel.
“The IPC report is not only biased but also serves Hamas’ propaganda campaign,” the agency said.
The report said “urgent steps should be taken to allow for a full humanitarian assessment in this governorate.”
The report details that “as this famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed,” with the committee calling for swift action.

“The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading,” it read.

“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed.
“Any further delay — even by days — will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of famine-related mortality.

“If a ceasefire is not implemented to allow humanitarian aid to reach everyone in the Gaza Strip, and if essential food supplies, and basic health, nutrition, and WASH services are not restored immediately, avoidable deaths will increase exponentially.”

Underscoring those worries, Britain called the IPC report “utterly horrifying” and demanded that Israel immediately allow unhindered supplies of food, medicines and fuel.

Britain, Canada, Australia and many European states recently said the humanitarian crisis had reached “unimaginable levels”.

UN refugee agency says Israel blocking ‘warehouses full of food’

On Saturday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said it had “warehouses full of food” that Israel was blocking the distribution of.
“Famine in Gaza City can be stopped,” the Palestinian refugee agency said in a post on social media platforrm X.
“Reverse the ongoing catastrophe — flood #aza with a massive scale-up of aid through the United Nations, including UNRWA.
“UNRWA’s warehouses alone in Jordan and Egypt are full. There is enough food, medicines and hygiene supplies ready to fill 6,000 trucks. The State of Israel must let us bring aid into Gaza.”

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