THE United Nations officially confirmed Friday that famine has taken hold in the Gaza Governorate, marking the first declared famine in the Middle East and affecting more than half a million Palestinians facing catastrophic hunger conditions.
The declaration came from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a 21-agency partnership that serves as the global authority on food security assessments. An additional one million people in the Gaza Strip are experiencing emergency-level food insecurity, according to the report.
“This is irrefutable testimony… It is a famine, the Gaza famine,” UN relief chief Tom Fletcher told reporters in Geneva as the report was released.
The IPC classification requires three critical thresholds to be met: extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition, and starvation-related deaths. Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis for the UN World Food Programme, confirmed all three conditions have been breached in Gaza City.
The famine is projected to spread to Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September without immediate large-scale humanitarian intervention, officials warned.
Health Crisis Escalates
World Health Organisation representative Dr. Rik Peeperkorn reported that more than 12,000 children were identified as acutely malnourished in July alone—the highest monthly figure on record and a six-fold increase since January. In 2025, the WHO has verified 206 deaths directly attributed to malnutrition effects.
“Teams, including myself, witnessed people starving,” Peeperkorn said, describing five-year-old children who appeared physically like two-year-olds due to severe malnutrition.
Blame and Calls for Action
UN officials directly attributed the crisis to systematic obstruction of humanitarian aid by Israel. Fletcher characterised it as “a famine within a few hundred meters of food in a fertile land,” citing food supplies stacked at blocked border crossings.
UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence called the situation a “direct result of actions taken by the Israeli Government,” citing destruction of civilian infrastructure, agricultural land, fishing bans, and forced displacement as contributing factors.
“It is a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare,” Laurence stated.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres demanded an immediate ceasefire, release of all hostages, and full humanitarian access in response to what he termed a “man-made disaster.”
This marks only the second active famine declaration by the IPC in its 20-year history, occurring simultaneously with the ongoing famine in Sudan that began in 2024.
The humanitarian crisis continues as fighting persists in the region, with UN officials warning that immediate action is required to prevent further spread of famine conditions throughout the Gaza Strip.
