Famine officially declared in Gaza City, where 1 million people live

At least thirty percent of the Gaza Strip’s population are officially enduring famine, the global authority on food insecurity concluded on Friday. This marks the first international recognition that indicators in Gaza represent those associated with the most severe classification of food insecurity since the beginning of Israel's genocidal war on the besieged enclave.

Malnutrition has worsened in the strip over the course of the past five months under Israeli-imposed starvation, with authorities reporting a rapidly accelerating number of malnutrition-related deaths.

“It is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment — and a failure of humanity itself,” United Nations Secretary General Antonion Guterres said in response to the report.

Comparing its findings to the previous review conducted in May, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-designed process, declared that “catastrophic conditions” in the Gaza Governorate have reached Phase 5 — the most severe level of food insecurity, marked by starvation, destitution and death. 

Conditions in northern Gaza, which includes all of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and other areas, were assessed by the IPC’s Famine Review Committee to be as bad or worse than in the Gaza Governorate, though the body said limited data prevented further classification.

It also observed deteriorating conditions in the central and southern governorates, where it said famine is expected to spread by late September.

“It is a famine within a few hundred meters of food, in a fertile land,” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said on Friday, pointing to aid piled up at Gaza’s borders “because of systematic obstruction by Israel.” 

Israel imposed a total blockade on the strip in March as it resumed military operations after a short-lived ceasefire, saying the step was intended to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining Israeli prisoners in its custody. 

Deaths due to the famine have risen to 273 since October 2023, including 113 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that all 320,000 children under five in Gaza are at risk of acute malnutrition.

The IPC report estimated however that deaths caused primarily by undernutrition “significantly exceed” the reported numbers. The Health Ministry only counts those who die at health facilities or whose bodies are taken there, missing deaths in the community, the agency said.

The IPC, a global system used by UN agencies and aid groups, defines famine as the fifth and final stage of food insecurity. In Gaza, 53 percent of the population is in Phase 4 and 20 percent are in Phase 3. 

In July alone, more than 12,000 children were confirmed to be acutely malnourished — the highest monthly toll ever recorded and six times the amount of cases recorded at the start of 2025.

“Famine must be stopped at all costs. Ending it is a race against time,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Ramiz Alakbarov said. “I call for the facilitation of swift and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid and services and commercial supplies across the Gaza Strip through all crossings and land routes, including directly to the north and to Gaza City. ”