The body of the food crisis announces the first famine in Gaza

The largest city in Gaza Strip has become greater than starvation, according to the world’s leading authority in food crises. The classification of integrated food security, or IPC, said on Friday that the famine was taking place in Gaza City and that this is likely to spread to the southern cities of Khan Yunis and Deir Al -Bala without a ceasefire and end the restrictions imposed on humanitarian aid.

Relief groups and food security experts warned for several months Gaza was on the brink of starvationHowever IPC report It is the first official announcement that the situation has reached this level. Israel immediately refused to evaluate the IPC, with the Foreign Ministry repeatedly repeating, calling for several months that “there is no famine in Gaza.”

But IPC – which consists of more than ten United Nations agencies, relief groups, governments and other bodies and was created for the first time in 2004 during famine in Somalia – that it concluded based on “reasonable evidence” that the famine “was confirmed in Gaza Governorate.”

“after 22 months of uncompromising conflictMore than half a million people in the Gaza Strip face catastrophic conditions characterized by starvation, want and death, “the group said, warning that 1.07 million people in Gaza were currently in the slightly low hunger risk category, and that the conditions are likely to expand in the densely populated virus.

“Between the middle of August and the end of September 2025, the conditions are expected to increase with an increase in starvation to Deir Al -Bala and Khan Yunis. It is expected that nearly a third of the population (641,000 people) will likely face (58 percent).

“It is expected that at least 132,000 children under the age of five will suffer from acute malnutrition – twice the IPC estimates from May 2025. This includes more than 41,000 severe cases of Children at risk of increasing death“

In a separate statement, Tom Fletcher, who heads the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that Israel’s systematic aid has caused famine in Gaza.

“It is a famine that we could prevent if we were allowed to it. However, the food accumulates on the border due to a systematic blockage by Israel,” Fletcher told reporters in Geneva, describing it as “a famine that will chase us all.”

Israel insists, “There is no famine in Gaza.”

In a statement, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically rejected the results of the uninterrupted report.

“There is no famine in Gaza,” the ministry said, accusing IPC of submitting a report, “based on the enthusiasm of the lies that are washed through organizations with acquired interests.”

The ministry said: “I have entered more than 100,000 trucks of aid in Gaza since the beginning of the war, and in recent weeks, the huge flow of aid has been immersed in basic foods and caused a sharp drop in food prices, which decreased in the markets.”

While more humanitarian aid to Gaza has been allowed in recent weeks, as Israel has been subjected to extensive international pressure, relief organizations say they are not anywhere near the required amount. A controversial new assistance group has also been in the distribution of United States and Israeli aid to aid to sharp criticism Many civilians were killed Near the four distribution centers in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denied the existence of widespread hunger in Gaza, and called on reports on the “lies” promoted by Hamas.

Kojat, the Israeli military agency responsible for transferring aid to Gaza, said the report is “false and biased.” He said that in recent weeks important steps have been taken to expand the amount of aid that enters the tape.

What does the famine classify mean?

Food experts say starvation can appear in pockets, sometimes small, so the official classification requires caution. IPC confirmed famine only several times – in Somalia in 2011, southern Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and last year in parts of the West Darfur region, Sudan. This is the first confirmed famine in the Middle East.

IPC classification rates, as in starvation, when all these three conditions are confirmed:

• 20 % of families have a severe food shortage, or mainly starved.

• At least 30 % of children from 6 months to 5 years suffer from acute malnutrition, based on weight to a height; Or 15 % of this age group suffers from acute malnutrition based on the vicinity of their upper arm.

• At least two people die, or four children less than 5 thousand, every 10,000 dies daily due to hunger or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.

Gaza was a great challenge to the experts because Israel strongly limits access to the region, making it difficult to collect and confirm data.

In a separate report on Friday, the Committee for the Famine Review, or FRC, said it also concluded a famine in a part of Gaza. FRC is a group of independent international food security experts who have been regularly consulted by IPC.

The collection works as an additional layer of verification when the data shows that there may be a famine.

Data analyzed between 1 July and August 15 showed clear evidence that thresholds for starvation and acute malnutrition have been accessed, according to IPC. Data collection for deaths was more difficult, but IPC said it was reasonable to conclude the evidence that the necessary threshold is likely to be reached.

Most of the severe malnutrition in children arise through a mixture of lack of nutrients alongside infection, which leads to diarrhea and other symptoms that cause dehydration.

“There are no standard guidances for doctors to classify the cause of death as” malnutrition “instead of infection,” he said.