Famine declared in Gaza; 500,000 face ‘starvation, destitution and death’

Famine was declared on Friday in parts of the Gaza Strip, with more than half a million Palestinians facing “starvation, destruction and death,” according to a warning released by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

“Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: ‘famine,'” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a post on the social platform X on Friday morning.

“This is not a mystery — it is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment and a failure of humanity itself,” he said, adding that Israel “has unequivocal obligations under international law” to ensure food and medical supplies reach people in Gaza.

“The time for action is not tomorrow — it is now. We need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages and full, unfettered humanitarian access.”

The IPC — an initiative supported by non-governmental organizations, the United Nations and governments — determined more than half a million Gazans are facing Phase 5 conditions, the highest classification. 

Another million Palestinians are in IPC Phase 4, while nearly 400,000 Gazans are in IPC Phase 3, according to IPC, adding that conditions are expected to worsen and that famine is projected to expand to the cities of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September. 

The Israeli Foreign Ministry blasted the IPC on Friday, accusing the world’s leading authority on hunger of bending the “rules” to fit the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s “campaign” and lowering the “famine thresholds and ignored criteria.” 

“Meanwhile, reality tells a different story: Over 100,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since the war began. Markets are stocked, food prices are falling,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a Friday post on X. “The IPC could not find famine — so they forged one.” 

The declaration comes as the deaths of Palestinians from starvation in Gaza are rising. 

“There is no time to lose. Without an immediate ceasefire and full humanitarian access, famine will spread, and more children will die,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

The U.N. reported last month that nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed trying to get food.

The Israeli military is preparing to take over Gaza City, an incursion that has been approved by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Critics say it could displace more Palestinians and make the humanitarian situation in the war-torn enclave worse. 

The military has launched strikes on the city ahead of the planned operation. 

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Friday that if Hamas does not surrender, the troops will destroy Gaza City, referring to the military’s attacks that have leveled Rafah and Beit Hanoun. 

“Soon, the gates of hell will open upon the heads of Hamas’s murderers and rapists in Gaza – until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and their disarmament,” Katz said Friday morning on X. “If they do not agree, Gaza, the capital of Hamas, will become Rafah and Beit Hanoun.” 

Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which coordinates humanitarian matters in the Gaza Strip, hammered the IPC, arguing Friday it “ignored data provided” by Israel before the report was released, including “verifiable figures on aid entry, market availability & humanitarian projects.” 

Since May, over 10,000 aid trucks have gone into Gaza, with 80 percent of them carrying food, according to COGAT. 

Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel ignited the regional war, with the group killing around 1,200 Israelis and taking about 250 people hostage. Israel believes that around 25 hostages are still alive. 

Since then, the Israeli military’s operation in Gaza has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

The Guardian this week reported on Israeli intelligence suggesting that more than 80 percent of those killed were civilians.