Summary

Companies IPC says close to a quarter of Gazans in famine

Israel calls report false, says it serves Hamas

First time IPC has determined a famine outside of Africa

UN aid chief says famine could have been prevented

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 22 (Reuters) – Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine, and it will likely spread, a global hunger monitor determined on Friday, an assessment that will escalate pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the Palestinian territory.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system 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.

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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. Reuters has previously reported on the IPC’s struggle to get access to data required to assess the crisis.

“It is a famine that we could have prevented had we been allowed,” said U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher. “Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel.”

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.”

U.S. President Donald Trump last month said many people there were starving , putting him at odds with Netanyahu, who has repeatedly said there was no starvation.

However, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, when asked about the IPC determination, reiterated accusations that assistance to Gaza has been looted and said Hamas was “systematically promoting a false narrative of deliberate mass starvation to put political pressure on Israel.”

“The U.S. Government is focused on getting aid delivered to the people of Gaza. Addressing these challenging issues means honestly addressing problems for the sake of Gazans, who deserve better, not engaging in semantics,” the spokesperson said.

FAMINE CLASSIFICATION

The IPC – an initiative involving 21 aid groups, U.N. agencies and regional organizations 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% 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.

Item 1 of 5 A child reacts surrounded by pots as Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, August 21, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled [1/5] A child reacts surrounded by pots as Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, August 21, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

U.N. 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.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk warned that deaths from starvation could amount to a war crime . Israel rejects war crimes charges in Gaza.

Kate Phillips-Barrasso, vice president of global policy and advocacy at Mercy Corps aid agency, said it was a frustration that the IPC report was not legally binding.

“We have photos, we have clear data, and now we have this assessment, yet it still hasn’t translated into the urgent action needed to stop people from starving,” she said.

DIPLOMATIC FALLOUT

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.

In Israel, Hebrew-language news websites highlighted the famine report on their front pages, with the liberal Haaretz focused on the severity of starvation in Gaza City, while Israel Hayom, N12 and ynet emphasized Israel’s rejection of the report as biased and cited concerns over the possible diplomatic fallout.

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”

Israel has long counted on the U.S., its most powerful ally, for military aid and diplomatic support. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week found that 65% of Americans believe the U.S. should help those starving in Gaza.

The IPC said its analysis only covered people living in Gaza, Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates. It was unable to classify 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.

The U.N. has complained of obstacles to delivering and distributing aid in Gaza, blaming impediments on Israel and lawlessness. Israel had criticized the U.N.-led operation and accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the militants deny.

The Gaza war 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.

Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Additional reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva, Lili Bayer and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Howard Goller in New York and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Writing by Michelle Nichols, Crispian Balmer and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Aidan Lewis, William Maclean, Toby Chopra

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Famine is declared in Gaza: What does it take to make this pronouncement?

toggle caption Eyad Baba/AFP/via Getty Images

After weeks of rising concern about hunger in Gaza, a United Nations-backed panel has declared that famine is underway in northern Gaza, warning that more than half a million people are on the brink of starvation as hunger spreads deeper into the densely populated Palestinian enclave.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed on Friday that famine has taken hold in the Gaza Governorate, encompassing Gaza City and nearby areas, and warned it could extend to central and southern Gaza by late September.

The declaration comes nearly two years into an armed conflict with Israel that was triggered by the October 7 invasion by Hamas. Israeli restrictions have limited the flow of food and aid into Gaza. Israel has long disputed claims about food insecurity in Gaza.

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World Food Programme’s Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Jean-Martin Bauer noted that when a famine is declared, it means there is documentation of widespread starvation, widespread illness and widespread mortality.

But the declaration of famine is a complicated process.

Here are five key points about the steps leading up to such a declaration.

toggle caption Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/via Getty Images

There’s a very specific, internationally-agreed upon system for gauging hunger crises

The system the world relies on to track food emergencies began in the 1980s, said Tim Hoffine, now Deputy Chief of Party-Innovation at the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). In response to famines in East and West Africa, U.S. aid officials realized the need for a way to monitor global hunger. The goal, Hoffine said, was to provide “independent, timely and evidence-based analysis” to help decision makers prevent future famines.

That led to the founding in 1985 of FEWS NET by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to contract experts to collect and analyze data on at-risk areas monthly.

Still, there was no universal standard to define the severity of hunger crises — making coordination among donors and aid groups difficult.

As former World Food Programme spokesperson Steve Taravella put it, “There is a serious need for the aid community to understand the levels of hunger in a scientific, authoritative way … We needed something reliable and authoritative that everybody working on these issues could use as a baseline.”

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So in 2004, during a food emergency in Somalia, FEWS NET and international partners developed the “Integrated Food Security Phase Classification” initiative — or IPC.

“It’s a mouthful of humanitarian jargon,” Taravella said, “but it’s basically the authoritative, respected, scientific mechanism for measuring levels of hunger in different areas.”

The IPC is coordinated by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome but brings together working groups of experts to analyze each crisis individually.

“Donors wanted a single estimate of need,” Hoffine said. “And the IPC responded to that desire for consensus.”

Multiple conditions need to be met before a location is technically considered in “famine”

The IPC categorizes hunger on a five-phase scale. FEWS NET, which monitors hunger hotspots monthly, also uses this system.

Phase one means conditions are normal. In phase two, communities are “stressed” — still eating enough, but many households struggle to afford other essentials.

At phase three — a “crisis” level — “that’s where we start getting nervous,” Taravella said. People begin to have trouble getting enough food. “They might not have meals as often.” Many turn to short-term coping strategies that undermine long-term survival, like selling off livestock.

In phase four — “emergency” — hardships deepen. Food gaps widen, and people resort to “really extreme forms of coping,” Hoffine said. That might mean liquidating nearly all assets or eating seeds needed for future planting. Rates of acute malnutrition and excess deaths rise.

Only in phase five is a location considered in “famine.” Three criteria must be met: at least 20% of households face “catastrophe,” meaning, Hoffine explained, “an extreme lack of food that … leads to acute malnutrition and mortality.”

Second, at least 30% of children under five suffer from acute malnutrition, or wasting. Third, at least two of every 10,000 adults die each day from non-trauma causes. As Hoffine noted, hunger often kills not just through starvation, but by weakening immune systems to the point where people can’t fight off disease.

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Friday’s IPC analysis says Gaza City and surrounding areas are experiencing a Phase 5 famine, the highest level of acute food insecurity.

FEWS NET lacks an operational presence in Gaza, posing potential challenges to monitoring acute food insecurity, but it says its analysis methods remain consistent with its standard project-wide practices.

Some areas in Sudan have been declared to be facing famine conditions since 2024. Parts of South Sudan were declared in famine in 2020 and 2017.

There’s an even higher bar for actually declaring a famine

Even if FEWS NET or the IPC determine that a location meets all three famine criteria, they can’t declare it on their own. Their findings must be reviewed and approved by a committee of independent experts convened by the IPC.

Still, neither FEWS NET nor the IPC makes the official declaration. “It’s up to government institutions, United Nations upper leadership, and other high-level representatives to actually make a famine declaration,” Hoffine said.

Starvation can occur long before famine is declared

Because all three thresholds must be met to trigger a famine designation, many people may be starving well before phase five is reached.

“Until famine thresholds are breached, you would still have people dying from hunger or hunger-related mortality,” Hoffine explained. “So in Gaza you would still expect there to be mortality. And the longer this goes without a solution, the more that we can expect that sort of mortality to occur.”

It’s not too late to take action in Gaza — but time is running short

Hoffine and Taravella emphasized the caveats in their organizations’ reports are critical. Both FEWS NET and IPC say famine in Gaza can be alleviated if hostilities cease and aid workers are granted full access.

That’s the goal of the famine classification system: to alert the world before it’s too late. While higher-phase designations don’t mandate action, they are powerful tools for mobilizing a response, Taravella said. “It puts the world on notice.”

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He cited WFP chief economist Arif Husain: “Several years ago, when [famines] happened in certain places, you could say, ‘I’m sorry. I did not know.’ Today we see crises in real time. So we cannot say we did not know.”

Meanwhile, a famine declaration can carry weight, increasing pressure on governments and agencies to ramp up aid and on Israel to allow full humanitarian access. It could also lead to diplomatic fallout.

FEWS NET said in a Friday statement: “Many months of starvation have already resulted in high levels of mortality and left many others so weakened that even with aid, high numbers of deaths will continue for months. This grim reality highlights why early intervention is so essential: Famine can still be slowed, but it should never be allowed to take hold in the first place.”

Famine was officially declared on Friday in part of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, by the world’s leading authority on hunger as Israel vowed to raze the area if Hamas doesn’t agree to its terms.

The declaration of famine by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, comes as deaths from starvation rise across the Palestinian enclave in a spiraling crisis under Israel’s military assault and aid restrictions.

Israel’s military is preparing to push ahead with a new operation to seize Gaza City that could displace hundreds of thousands of people and worsen the dire situation there. It has launched intense strikes on the city this week after announcing it had begun the first stage of its planned assault.

Famine declared

The IPC, an internationally recognized system for classifying food insecurity and malnutrition, said in its report that famine had been confirmed in the Gaza Governorate — and that it was projected to expand to the Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis Governorates farther south by the end of September if the humanitarian situation does not change.

The number of people now experiencing famine in Gaza was nearly 514,000, the IPC said — around a quarter of the enclave’s population. That was projected to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.

“Famine is a race against time,” the IPC said. “An immediate ceasefire and end to the conflict is critical to enabling an unimpeded, large-scale humanitarian response to save lives.”

Palestinian doctor Ahmed Basal examines a child for malnutrition at Al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City, on Aug. 7. Dawoud Abu Alkas / Reuters

The United Nations-backed body had up until now only declared famine on four other occasions since it was first established in 2004, most recently in Sudan last year.

The report’s findings were met with little surprise by global health authorities and humanitarian groups.

“Famine warnings have been clear for months,” said Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program.

“A ceasefire is an absolute and moral imperative now,” said World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The world has waited too long, watching tragic and unnecessary deaths mount from this man-made famine.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forcefully rejected the report’s findings, calling them a “lie,” and repeated that “Israel does not have a policy of starvation.”

The IPC’s 59-page report does not state that Israel has a policy of starvation in Gaza.

Earlier, Israel’s foreign ministry said the IPC had published a “fabricated report to fit Hamas’s fake campaign.” It hit out at the IPC’s methods, accusing it of having “twisted its own rules and ignored its own criteria.”

The IPC rejected Israel’s accusation.

Mike Huckabee, the United States’ ambassador to Israel, attacked the famine declaration before it was officially announced.

“You know who IS starving? The hostages kidnapped and tortured by uncivilized Hamas savages,” he said in a post on X early Friday.

Famine, the highest phase of the IPC Acute Food Insecurity scale, is classified when an area has at least 20% of households facing an extreme lack of food; at least 30% of children suffering from acute malnutrition and at least two people or four children out of every 10,000 people are dying each day from starvation.

Palestinians at a food distribution point in Gaza City on Aug. 10. Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP via Getty Images

But the bar can also be met if 15% of children are considered to be suffering from acute malnutrition based on mid-upper arm circumference with evidence of rapidly worsening underlying drivers, according to the IPC, which cited the latter practice in its report.

The IPC said that this did not mean it had altered its threshold for famine, saying it used this method in line with established standards where a lack of other data is available, as it had also done in South Sudan.

This “does not represent a ‘lowered threshold’ in IPC methodology. Instead, it demonstrates the continued application of established IPC standards,” it said.

Israel has repeatedly denied reports of growing starvation in Gaza, while seeking to blame any hunger in the enclave on humanitarian groups and Hamas.

The hunger crisis in Gaza intensified after Israel launched a blockade on March 2, in the middle of its ceasefire with Hamas, barring the entry of food and other vital supplies for more than two months. It lifted the blockade in May, but only allowed a basic amount of aid in for weeks after that.

Data published by COGAT states that in the weeks since Israel lifted its blockade on May 19 to August 17, when the database was last updated, 9,165 trucks carrying aid entered the enclave, with food making up just over 95% of the supplies.

That boils down to an average of around 100 trucks carrying aid per day during that time period. Prior to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, around 500 trucks per day were entering the enclave, according to humanitarian groups.

Israel threatens ‘gates of hell’

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Friday to open the “gates of hell” on Gaza City until Hamas agreed to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, including the release of all hostages and the militant group’s complete disarmament.

If not, he said, the city would “become like Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” areas that have been largely reduced to ruins under Israel’s 22-month offensive.

Netanyahu said a day earlier that he had authorized the operation to take over Gaza City, while also revealing he had instructed “immediate negotiations” to begin for a deal to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of the hostages who remain held in the enclave.

The video statement followed days of silence after Hamas announced it had accepted a ceasefire proposal put forward by Arab mediators.

The IPC’s declaration comes just over three weeks after it warned that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was already unfolding in the Palestinian enclave under Israel’s offensive and crippling aid restrictions — but it had emphasized the alert was not a formal famine classification.

A Palestinian woman searches in the sand for legumes in Nuseirat, Gaza, during an aid airdrop mission, on Aug. 5. Eyad Baba / AFP via Getty Images

Aid groups have repeatedly warned in recent weeks there is still not enough food entering Gaza to stave off famine.

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said on Monday it had recorded three new adult deaths “due to famine and malnutrition” within a 24-hour period, bringing the total death toll from starvation to 266 people, including 112 children.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies, marking a major escalation in a decades-long conflict.

Since then, more than 62,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to the local Palestinian health ministry, with much of the territory destroyed.

Among the dead are hundreds of people who have been killed while trying to seek aid following the introduction of a new distribution system led by Israel and the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Palestinians have lived and died through horror over the last two years.

There are no words left to describe the devastating and systematic genocide of an entire population. We have used them all up.

It’s almost impossible to imagine how things could get worse, but they are.

The horror for Gaza’s 2.2m people is sliding even further into unrelenting slaughter, starvation, and horror.

The confirmation on Friday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) of famine in Gaza City, amidst plans by Israel to take the city over, has plunged this desperate crisis to a new low. Things are, unbelievably, getting worse.

After months of deliberate starvation, imposed through the Israeli government’s blockade of lifesaving aid, famine was inevitable and predicted.

The most catastrophic level, Phase 5, was confirmed in Gaza Governorate — the area around Gaza City — and is projected to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September.

Smoke rise to the sky following an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel. Picture: Leo Correa

This is the most severe deterioration since the IPC began analysing acute food insecurity and acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, and it marks the first time a famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East region.

More than 500,000 people are already enduring catastrophic conditions marked by starvation, destitution, and death, while more than half the population,1.07m people, are in the emergency phase of starvation and a further 396,000 in the crisis phase.

Given the hellish conditions in Gaza right now, these numbers are likely under-estimated.

This is deliberate. The repeated closure of border crossings, the obstruction of humanitarian convoys, and the weaponisation of food and medical supplies by Israel constitute collective punishment and egregious breaches of international law.

Under international humanitarian law, the deliberate starvation of civilians as a method of warfare constitutes a war crime.

“Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths.” the IPC said in a statement.

“Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.”

People, and children, are dying. Thousands of frail and hungry children are slowly wasting away, with the IPC saying what we have already known for weeks — access to food and other essential items and services has plummeted to unprecedented levels.

ActionAid and partners have warned that famine was inevitable if the siege continued.

Now, the consequences are undeniable and catastrophic.

Mothers are forced to feed their babies with unsafe substitutes for milk; children are dying from preventable causes; and entire families, including ActionAid staff and humanitarian workers, are starving.

ActionAid continues to work with partners across Gaza to deliver whatever aid is possible under the current restrictions and stands ready to scale up operations if access is granted.

More than 20,000 children in Gaza have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, with more than 3,000 severely malnourished.

Hospitals have reported a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths of children under five years of age, with over 100 kids dead now from man-made starvation.

All the while the brutal bombardments and mass killings continue apace, bringing with them terror, grief and trauma.

On Thursday, Israel bombed a camp for internally displaced people.

Amidst this man-made starvation, the military operation to seize Gaza City, will bring further death, displacement, and devastation.

This is a brutal offensive with neighbourhoods once filled with families and hopes already being decimated with artillery, airstrikes, and an utter disregard for the sanctity of civilian life.

If Israel proceeds to occupy Gaza City now, the consequences will be catastrophic.

The pattern is clear.

Just like with Rafah, the city will be encircled, the population starved and bombed, buildings destroyed.

While Gaza city has been badly destroyed with almost 70% of its buildings razed to the ground, it will now be totally flattened and made entirely inhabitable.

The world failed to stop it for Rafah, and signs are that nothing will stop this.

The displacement that will ensue will be mass death on the move. Where will the almost 1m residents go? To the over-crowded and inhumane camps in the south? What are starving people to do when displaced under shelling? The elderly and the very young die first. With health facilities shattered, even treatable illnesses become fatal.

What the world is witnessing in real time is not warfare. This is engineered starvation, deliberate displacement, and a merciless assault on a trapped and terrorised population.

Israel’s inhuman strategy weaponises hunger and fear and punishes the innocent including mothers, children and the elderly.

This is a moral collapse of epic proportions. This famine is man-made. It flows from political choices. Global inaction has led to time running out for Palestinians in Gaza.

Words have failed. Famine must be stopped at all costs. Ending it is a race against time. An immediate ceasefire and end to the conflict is critical to enabling an unimpeded, large-scale humanitarian response that can save lives.

World leaders must use every diplomatic tool to press for an immediate, durable ceasefire that protects civilians, enables the release of all hostages, and opens space for a political resolution rooted in international law.

Famine is a horror known well in Irish history.

It is a devastating reality with hunger, malnutrition, and disease converging in a catastrophic tide of death. We must stand with Palestinians; they do not need our pity. They need action.

Karol Balfe is CEO of ActionAid Ireland

U.N.-backed food security experts determined on Friday that Gaza City and the surrounding area are officially suffering from famine. Israel has blocked most food and other aid from entering the enclave since the war began nearly two years ago.

The determination of famine came from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, known as the I.P.C., a group of international organizations that the United Nations and aid agencies rely on to monitor and classify global hunger crises.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, an agency responsible for managing the entry of aid into Gaza, rejected the I.P.C.’s findings.

“The I.P.C. report is based on partial and unreliable sources, many of them affiliated with Hamas, and blatantly ignores the facts and the extensive humanitarian efforts led by the State of Israel and its international partners,” said Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, the head of the agency.