Gaza City and its surrounding areas are officially in famine, a global hunger monitor said on Friday, in a landmark assessment that piles pressure on Israel to ease restrictions on humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported that 514,000 people, nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population, are facing famine, a figure expected to rise to 641,000 by the end of September. It marks the first time the IPC has confirmed famine outside Africa.
Around 280,000 people in the Gaza governorate, which covers Gaza City, were classified as living in famine conditions after almost two years of war between Israel and Hamas. The IPC warned that famine is likely to spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis within weeks.
“It is a famine that we could have prevented had we been allowed,” said UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, blaming Israeli restrictions. “Food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction.”
Israel rejected the findings, calling them biased and based on incomplete data.
“The report is an outright lie,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “Israel has enabled 2 million tons of aid to enter Gaza — more than one ton per person.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the famine a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself,” urging a ceasefire, release of hostages and full humanitarian access.
UN rights chief Volker Türk warned that starvation deaths could amount to war crimes.
The declaration triggered sharp diplomatic fallout. Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy called the findings utterly horrifying and accused Israel of creating a man-made catastrophe. Canada, Australia and several European states echoed demands for Israel to allow in far greater volumes of food, medicine and fuel.
Israel’s military body overseeing aid, COGAT, dismissed the IPC analysis as part of a “propaganda campaign” by Hamas.
Israeli media highlighted the report but diverged in tone: liberal daily Haaretz focused on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, while right-leaning outlets emphasized Israel’s rebuttals and potential diplomatic consequences.
The IPC, a consortium of 21 aid groups and UN agencies funded by the EU, Germany, the UK, and Canada, has previously declared famines in Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
A famine classification requires at least 20% of a population to suffer extreme food shortages, one in three children to be acutely malnourished, and two of every 10,000 people to die daily from hunger or related disease.
The Gaza war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
REUTERS/S.S