U.N. declares famine in Gaza

ROME, Italy (AFP) — The United Nations (UN) on Friday officially declared a famine in Gaza, the first time it has done so in the Middle East, with experts warning 500,000 people face “catastrophic” hunger.

“It is a famine: the Gaza famine,” said Tom Fletcher, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, as the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative) panel found famine was now present in and around Gaza City.

He blamed Israel, accusing it of “systematic obstruction” of aid deliveries to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the UN-backed report as “an outright lie,” while the foreign ministry insisted: “There is no famine in Gaza.”

The assessment of famine was made by the IPC, a coalition of monitors tasked by the UN to warn of impending crises.

It defines famine as occurring when 20 percent of households have an extreme lack of food; 30 percent of children under five are acutely malnourished; and at least two in every 10,000 people die daily from outright starvation or from malnutrition and disease.

UN agencies have long been warning of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, particularly as Israel steps up its offensive against Hamas.

The Rome-based IPC said that “as of 15 August 2025, famine (IPC Phase 5) — with reasonable evidence — is confirmed in Gaza governorate.”

The UN estimates that nearly one million people currently live in the Gaza governorate.

“Over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions characterized by starvation, destitution and death,” the IPC report said.

It projected famine would spread to the Deir el-Balah and Khan Yunis governorates by the end of September, with the number of people starving expected to rise to 641,000.

The IPC said it was “the first time a famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East region.”

A famine was projected in Yemen in 2018 but never officially confirmed, despite the humanitarian crisis in the country, a spokesperson told Agence France-Presse.