The Gaza Strip's largest city, Gaza City, is currently facing a severe famine, as reported by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a leading authority on food crises. The IPC announced on Friday that the famine conditions in Gaza City may also spread to other southern cities like Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah if a ceasefire is not established and restrictions on humanitarian aid continue.
Aid organizations and food security experts have been warning of an impending famine in Gaza for months. However, this IPC report marks the first official confirmation of famine conditions in the region. In response, the Israeli military agency responsible for aid transfers, known as COGAT, rejected the IPC's claims, labeling them "false and biased." COGAT asserted that significant progress had been made in increasing the amount of aid reaching Gaza in recent weeks.
The situation in Gaza has significantly deteriorated, according to the IPC report. Between early July and mid-August, the IPC observed the most severe decline in food security and nutrition levels since it began monitoring Gaza. The organization anticipates that conditions will worsen further, with projections indicating that by the end of next month, up to one-third of Gaza's population could experience catastrophic hunger levels. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly denied the existence of hunger in Gaza, denouncing reports of starvation as "lies" spread by Hamas.
The IPC is an international body established in 2004 during the Somali famine and consists of numerous U.N. agencies, humanitarian groups, and governments. It has rarely confirmed famine conditions, having only recognized such instances in Somalia (2011), South Sudan (2017 and 2020), and recently in parts of Sudan’s western Darfur region. The current situation in Gaza marks the first verified famine in the Middle East.
According to the IPC criteria, famine conditions are declared when three specific conditions are met: at least 20% of households face extreme food shortages, at least 30% of children aged 6 months to 5 years suffer from acute malnutrition, and there are daily deaths due to starvation or malnutrition-related diseases affecting at least two people or four children under five per 10,000 individuals.
The challenge of accurately assessing the situation in Gaza is amplified by stringent Israeli restrictions on data collection and access to the territory. In a related report, the Famine Review Committee (FRC), an independent group of food security experts, also confirmed the presence of famine in parts of Gaza. The FRC serves as an additional verification layer, examining data to determine if famine conditions exist.
The data gathered between July 1 and August 15 revealed that the benchmarks for starvation and acute malnutrition had been met. Although measuring mortality rates has proven difficult, the IPC believes there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the required thresholds for famine have likely been reached.
Experts note that severe malnutrition in children is often associated with both the absence of adequate nutrition and concurrent infections, which can lead to dehydration and other complications. According to Alex de Waal, an expert in the field, classifying the cause of death as either "malnutrition" or "infection" is challenging due to the lack of standard guidelines for physicians. In many cases, deaths during famine occur not solely from hunger but rather from a combination of malnutrition, diseases, and other deprivations. All of these factors contribute to what are termed excess deaths, which can be directly linked to the crisis of food insecurity or famine.
