Famine confirmed in Gaza City, as UN chief calls it ‘failure of humanity’

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Famine has been confirmed in Gaza City and the surrounding area for the first time, according to a report by the UN-backed food security body Integrated Food Security Phase Classifications (IPC).

Half a million people in the territory are facing “starvation, destitution and death,” reports the IPC, which expects the crisis to get worse in the coming weeks.

Gazan parents say their children are wasting away, teachers report students are light headed – and everyone is talking about soaring food prices.

UN Secretary General António Guterres calls it “a failure of humanity”.

The IPC, along with many international aid agencies, describes the famine as a “man-made” catastrophe. Some say it has been deliberately engineered by the Israeli military.

Israel strongly denies these allegations, saying there is no famine in Gaza and that it has significantly increased aid deliveries.

The country also says the IPC used unreliable data controlled by Hamas, and accuses the body of changing its methodology – something both the IPC and food security experts reject as false.

Gaza City is now facing a renewed Israeli offensive, with troops operating on its outskirts as part of a plan to take control of the city.

There have been peace talks between Israel and Hamas, but key differences remain. While Hamas has agreed to a proposal by mediators for a 60-day ceasefire in exchange for releasing half of the remaining hostages, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apparently rejected this, saying he has instructed negotiations to begin for the release of all remaining hostages.

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Famine confirmed in Gaza City is ‘failure of humanity’, UN chief says

9 minutes ago Share Save Tom Bennett BBC News Share Save

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The United Nations chief has described the famine confirmed in Gaza City and its surrounding areas as a “failure of humanity”. Antonio Gutteres said the situation was a “man-made disaster” after a UN-backed body, which identifies hunger levels around the world, raised its food insecurity status in parts of the territory to Phase 5 – the highest and most severe. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) says more than half a million people across Gaza are facing “catastrophic” conditions characterised by “starvation, destitution and death”. The report was labelled an “outright lie” by Israel, which has denied there is starvation in the territory.

The UN says Israel is continuing to restrict the amount of aid entering Gaza, which Israel also denies. Its denials are in direct contradiction to what more than 100 humanitarian groups, witnesses on the ground, multiple UN bodies, and several of Israel’s allies, including the UK, have said. The IPC says that an “immediate, at-scale response” is needed or there will be an “unacceptable escalation” in famine-related deaths. It predicts that between mid-August and the end of September, famine will expand across the strip to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

During this period, almost a third of the population – nearly 641,000 people – are expected to face “catastrophic conditions” in IPC Phase 5, while the number of people to face “emergency” conditions in IPC Phase 4 will likely increase to 1.14 million – or 58% of the population. The report also projects that up to June 2026, malnutrition will threaten the lives of 132,000 children aged under five. Since the start of the war, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has reported that 271 people have died of malnutrition – including 112 children. Only four previous famines have been classified by the IPC since it was established in 2004, the most recent in Sudan in 2024. The IPC cannot officially declare famine – that is usually done by governments or the United Nations.

Reem Tawfiq Khader, 41, a mother of five from Gaza City, said: “The declaration of famine came too late, but it is still important. “We haven’t eaten any protein for five months. My youngest child is four years old – he doesn’t know what fruit and vegetables look or taste like.” Rida Hijjeh, 29, said her five-year-old daughter Lamia’s weight had dropped from 19kg (42lbs) to 10.5kg (23lbs). She said Lamia was healthy before the war began and had no prior illnesses. “This all happened only because of the famine,” she said. “There is simply nothing for the child to eat. There are no vegetables, no fruits.” Now, Lamia suffers from swelling in her legs, thinning hair, and nerve problems, she said. In response to the report, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the famine was entirely preventable, saying food could not get through to the Palestinian territory “because of systematic obstruction by Israel”. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: “Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: ‘famine’.” He described it as “not a mystery,” but rather “a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself”. He added that Israel has “unequivocal obligations under international law – including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population”. Phillipe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said: “This is starvation by design & man-made by the Government of Israel”. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk described the famine as “the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli Government”, which has “unlawfully restricted” the entry of aid. UK foreign secretary David Lammy said described the famine as a “moral outrage.” “The Israeli government’s refusal to allow sufficient aid into Gaza has caused this man-made catastrophe,” he wrote on X. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement: “Israel does not have a policy of starvation, 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.” In recent months, Israel has come under widespread international condemnation for the aid situation in the Gaza Strip. Last month, after weeks of mounting pressure, the Israeli military said it had airdropped humanitarian aid into Gaza – a move that was criticised at the time by aid agencies as a “grotesque distraction”.

Anadolu via Getty Images Aid groups say air drops are ineffective and that Israel should allow more aid in through the normal routes

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system said 514,000 people – nearly a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza – are experiencing famine.

A global hunger monitor confirmed on Friday that Gaza City and nearby areas are officially experiencing famine, warning it will likely spread—an assessment expected to intensify pressure on Israel to permit greater humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system said 514,000 people – nearly 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 had 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 said limited data prevented any precise classification.

Israel dismissed the report 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.

“There is no famine in Gaza,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.

Extreme Food Shortages

For a region to be classified as in a famine, at least 20% 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.

Previously, the IPC has only registered famines in Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Even if a region has not yet been classified as in famine because those thresholds have not been met, the IPC can determine that households there are suffering famine conditions, which it describes as starvation, destitution and death.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that 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.

“People are starving. Children are dying. And those with the duty to act are failing … We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity.”

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said that famine in Gaza was the direct result of Israeli government actions, and warned that deaths from starvation could amount to a war crime.

The IPC analysis comes after Britain, Canada, Australia and many European states said the humanitarian crisis had reached “unimaginable levels”.

U.S. President Donald Trump last month said many people there were starving, putting him at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly said there was no starvation and blamed Hamas for creating food shortages.

Israel Controls Gaza Access

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 U.N. has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza and distributing it throughout the war zone, blaming impediments on Israel and lawlessness. Israel has been critical of the U.N.-led operation and accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the militants deny.

The IPC said the analysis released on Friday only covered people living in Gaza, Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates. It was unable to classify the North Gaza governorate due to access restrictions and a lack of data, and it excluded any remaining population in the southern Rafah region, as it is largely uninhabited.

It is the fifth time in the past 14 years that a famine has been determined by the IPC – an initiative involving 21 aid groups, United Nations agencies and regional organisations that is funded by the European Union, Germany, Britain and Canada.

Past Famine Assessments Highlighted

The IPC has previously assessed that there was famine in areas of Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and Sudan in 2024. The IPC says it does not declare famine, but instead provides analysis for governments and others to do so.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week found that 65% of Americans believe the U.S. should help those starving in Gaza.

Israel has long counted on the U.S., its most powerful ally, for military aid and diplomatic support. An erosion of U.S. public support would be a worrisome sign for Israel as it faces not only Hamas militants in Gaza but unresolved conflict with Iran, its regional arch-foe.

The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to broker an end to the conflict.

(With inputs from Reuters)