Famine grips Gaza’s largest city and is likely to spread, crisis authority says

The IPC determination comes after months of warnings by aid groups that Israel’s restrictions of food and other aid into Gaza, and its military offensive, were causing high levels of starvation among Palestinian civilians, particularly children.

The grim milestone – the first time the IPC has confirmed a famine in the Middle East – is sure to ramp up international pressure on Israel, which has been in a brutal war with Hamas since the militant group’s October 7 attack.

Israel says it plans to soon escalate the war by seizing Gaza City and other Hamas strongholds, which experts say will exacerbate the hunger crisis.

The IPC said hunger has been driven by fighting and the blockade of aid, and magnified by widespread displacement and the collapse of food production in Gaza, pushing hunger to life-threatening levels across the entire territory after 22 months of war.

More than half a million people in Gaza, about a quarter of the population, face catastrophic levels of hunger, and many are at risk of dying from malnutrition-related causes, the IPC report said.

Last month, the IPC said the “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza, but stopped short of an official determination.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied there is hunger in Gaza, calling reports of starvation “lies” promoted by Hamas.

After the publication of images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of hunger-related deaths, Israel announced measures to let more humanitarian aid in. However, the UN and Palestinians in Gaza say that what aid is entering is far below what is needed.

The Israeli military agency in charge of transferring aid to the territory rejected the report on Friday, calling it “false and biased”.

The agency, known as COGAT, rejected the claim that there was famine in Gaza and said that significant steps had been taken to expand the amount of aid entering the strip in recent weeks.

In a post on social media, Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs also rejected the findings, saying the IPC report was “based on Hamas lies”.

It said that more than 100,000 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the start of the war, including a massive influx in recent weeks with staple foods.

“A rapidly increasing number of people, especially young children, are dying preventable deaths from starvation and disease because Israel made starvation a core part of its campaign to control the strip,” said Chris Newton, an analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Israel’s plan to escalate the war in Gaza City weeks after a warning that famine was beginning there demonstrates how “intentional the famine is and how Israel wields starvation”, he said.

Mr Netanyahu says more military pressure is needed to achieve Israel’s goals of freeing the hostages held by Hamas and eliminating the militant group altogether.

A spokesperson on behalf of Oxfam Cymru said: “The famine in Gaza is entirely driven by Israel’s near-total blockade on food and vital aid, the horrifying consequence of Israel’s violence, and its use of starvation as a weapon of war. This is what our staff and partners have been witnessing for months
– people in the Gaza Strip being deliberately starved, relentlessly bombarded and forcefully displaced. All part of Israel’s genocide.

“Mothers are now too malnourished to nurse their starving babies. People are being forced to walk miles across treacherous terrain to find food, only to be shot, at militarized distribution centres. Elderly under fire are too weak to flee, illustrating an enforced humanitarian-system collapse and repeated crimes against humanity.

“Despite warnings in July that famine was imminent, Israel has continued to deprive Palestinians of food, denying almost every request from even long-established humanitarian agencies operating in Gaza, preventing them from delivering vital food and aid that could have stemmed hunger, malnutrition and disease.

“Oxfam alone has more than $2.5m worth of life-saving aid, including high-calorie food packages – now sitting in warehouses outside Gaza. Israeli authorities have rejected all at a time when it is needed more than ever.

“The Government of Israel is continuing its campaign of relentless bombing and implementing a policy choice of starving out people in areas where famine is now classified, while persisting with plans to forcibly displace the starving population of Gaza City.

“Other governments that could have done more to stop Israel, are complicit in enabling genocide and war crimes by their silence, inaction and the continuation of many to supply Israel with arms,

“This famine is entirely man-made, and it can be halted. Oxfam calls for an immediate ceasefire, the full lifting of the blockade, and urgent humanitarian aid at scale through all crossings, including those to the north.”

Moazzam Malik, CEO Save the Children UK said: “Today’s confirmation of famine in Gaza by the IPC is the official stamp on a tragedy we have been warning about for months. The UK – and Israel’s other allies – cannot say they didn’t know this would happen. We have all watched this disaster play out on our screens. The UK public is rightly outraged.

“This is a man-made famine that was entirely preventable. All evidence points to one conclusion – starvation is being used as a weapon of war, and humanitarian aid has been used as an instrument of occupation.

“The UK Government cannot turn away. To refuse to act is to be complicit.

“This siege and the weaponisation of aid must end. Essential supplies must flow without hinderance on political grounds. The UK must suspend all arms transfers to Israel, including components for F-35 fighter jets used to rain terror on civilians. The UK must act against those that are responsible for these atrocities.”