The United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) officially declared a famine in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
The IPC said that more than half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions, i.e., Phase 5, characterized by extreme hunger, death, destitution, and extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition.
It stated that another 1.07 million people (54% of the population) are facing Phase 4, which is the “emergency” stage of acute food insecurity. Another 396,000 (20% of the population) are facing Phase 3, which is acute food insecurity.
It explained that the number of people suffering from food shortages in the Gaza Strip has tripled, calling for an end to famine in the Gaza Strip at all costs.
It added that approximately 132,000 children under the age of five are at risk of death due to acute malnutrition.
It warned that acute malnutrition will rapidly worsen in the Strip until June 2026.
The IPC called for a ceasefire in Gaza to enable a massive humanitarian response to save lives. The classification predicts that conditions in Gaza will deteriorate between mid-August and the end of September 2025, with famine extending to Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis.
During this period, approximately one-third of the population (641,000 people) are expected to face catastrophic conditions, which is the fifth phase of the classification. Acute malnutrition is also expected to continue to worsen rapidly.
UN agencies said: “Recent developments, including escalating fighting, repeated displacement, and tightening restrictions on humanitarian access, have exacerbated the humanitarian situation.”
They stated that the cumulative effect of these factors has pushed Gaza into an unprecedented catastrophe, with the majority of the population severely restricted in access to food, clean water, and basic services.
This is the worst deterioration since the classification began analyzing food insecurity and malnutrition in Gaza, and the first time famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East.
The United Nations emphasized the need to stop the famine by all means possible, emphasizing the importance of a ceasefire to allow widespread and unhindered humanitarian access to save lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that more than 55,000 nursing and pregnant women in the Gaza Strip need additional nutrition.
It confirmed that famine is spreading in the Gaza Strip, and this is the first time we have observed such a situation in the Middle East.
For his part, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, announced that the famine in Gaza is deliberate and a direct result of Israel’s months-long ban on the entry of food and essential supplies.
Lazzarini added that the official declaration of famine in Gaza City is deeply worrying, but not surprising.
He emphasized that stopping the spread of famine is possible through a ceasefire and allowing humanitarian organizations to carry out their work.
For his part, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said that the famine in Gaza is a direct result of the Israeli government’s actions.
Türk added that deaths resulting from starvation in Gaza may constitute a war crime of willful killing.
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