Gaza City has been undergoing a famine, with projections that it will spread to the cities of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis within weeks, according to a new analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) released on Friday.
The unfolding catastrophe is the first of its kind in the Middle East, as the WHO noted that "it marks the first time a famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East region."
The UN-backed hunger monitoring system IPC gave its alert saying, "As of 15 August 2025, Famine (IPC Phase 5)—with reasonable evidence—is confirmed in Gaza Governorate."
"After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions characterised by starvation, destitution and death. Another 1.07 million people (54 percent) are in Emergency (IPC Phase 4), and 396,000 people (20 percent) are in Crisis (IPC Phase 3)," the report added.
Moreover, the IPC estimate shows the number of children projected to suffer from acute malnutrition through June 2026 has doubled from the previous estimates of May 2025, which includes over 41,000 severe cases of children at heightened risk of death.
Nearly 55,500 malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women will also require an immediate nutrition response.
The Famine Review Committee has stressed that the catastrophe is "entirely man-made" and therefore "can be halted and reversed".
"The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay—even by days—will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of Famine-related mortality."
The IPC report has identified four key factors prompting the famine in Gaza.
The escalating conflict is one of the key drivers of this catastrophe, which has resulted in more than 62,000 deaths and 155,000 injuries, and forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians since mid-March.
Israeli chokehold on aid reaching Gaza is another key factor, with access to both humanitarian and commercial supplies of food and other essential goods "critically restricted" since mid-March.
At least 132,000 children under five in Gaza are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition through June, according to the latest IPC snapshot on the food crisis in the territory.
UN attributed the famine to Israel's "systematic obstruction" of aid.
The famine in Gaza should "haunt us all" and was entirely preventable had the UN not been systematically prevented from bringing in food, the UN aid chief said.
"It is a famine that we could have prevented if we had been allowed, yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel," Tom Fletcher told reporters in the Swiss city of Geneva, reports Al Jazeera.
The Israeli foreign ministry, however, categorically rejected the IPC report, saying there is "no famine in Gaza" and that the UN-backed food security report's findings were based on "Hamas lies".
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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