The United Nations on Friday declared that Gaza is officially in famine, the first such crisis ever recorded in the Middle East. UN experts estimate that around 500,000 people in the territory are enduring “catastrophic” hunger.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described the crisis as preventable, blaming Israel for blocking food deliveries. “This is a famine that could have been avoided. Supplies are piled up at the borders but cannot enter because of systematic obstruction,” he said in Geneva.
Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the findings, insisting there is no famine. It accused the Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) of relying on “Hamas lies laundered through organisations with vested interests.”
The IPC report confirmed that as of August 15 famine conditions exist in Gaza City, which makes up about one-fifth of the enclave. The group warned that by late September famine will likely spread to Deir el-Balah and Khan Yunis, covering nearly two-thirds of the Strip.
According to the IPC, more than half a million people are already facing starvation, and that figure could rise to 641,000 roughly a third of Gaza’s population within weeks. It called the current decline in food security the most severe since it began monitoring the situation.
The collapse of Gaza’s food system has been compounded by the ongoing war, mass displacement, and Israel’s near-total ban on aid earlier this year. Limited supplies were only allowed in after May, leaving food, medicine, and fuel in acute shortage. Nearly all cropland has been destroyed or made inaccessible, livestock has been wiped out, and fishing has been prohibited. The health system and access to clean water have also deteriorated sharply.
The IPC defines famine through three conditions: one in five households having no food, at least one in three children under five suffering acute malnutrition, and at least two out of every 10,000 people dying daily from hunger or hunger-related disease.
The war began after Hamas’s October 2023 attack in which 1,219 people were killed in Israel, mostly civilians. Since then, Israel’s offensive has left more than 62,000 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza’s health ministry figures cited by the UN.
