The IPC, whose 21 partner organisations include Save the Children, Oxfam and Unicef, has forecasted … “the first time a famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East region”
Famine officially declared in Gaza for first time by UN-backed group
Confirmation of ‘man-made disaster’ firmly rejected by Israeli government
Maeve Cullinan 22 August 2025 10:50am BST
Famine has been declared in Gaza City for the first time by the international body responsible for monitoring world hunger.
The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – a globally recognised system for classifying the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition – described the famine in Gaza as “entirely man-made”.
The organisation had previously warned that famine is imminent in parts of Gaza, but had stopped short of making a formal declaration, citing a lack of hard data.
However, it formally confirmed that famine was taking place in Gaza City, the last remaining major built-up area of the enclave and home to some 500,000 people, on Friday morning.
The declaration, first reported by The Telegraph on Thursday, has marked the fifth time famine has been declared since it was established in 2004, most recently in Sudan last year.
Antionio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, called the famine a “man-made disaster” and added that there should be “no more excuses”.
“This is not a mystery – it is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment and a failure of humanity itself,” he said on X.
The confirmation has outraged the Israeli government, which has consistently denied that famine is taking place in Gaza and is currently moving in on Gaza City. It’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeated on Friday that there is no famine in Gaza.
Israel said it “firmly rejects” the findings of the IPC report, “specifically the claim of famine in Gaza City”.
In order to declare a famine, three strict criteria must be met: at least 20 per cent of households face an extreme lack of food, at least 30 per cent of children suffer acute malnutrition and two people for every 10,000 die each day because of “outright starvation”.
The IPC stated that a famine is taking place in the “Gaza Governorate”, which comprises Gaza City, three surrounding towns, and several refugee camps, according to a briefing shared with its partner organisations and seen by The Telegraph.
“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,” the report said.
It added that the famine is projected to expand to the governorates of Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September on current projections.
Another 1.07 million people – more than half of Gaza’s population – are already facing “emergency” levels of food insecurity, the second-highest level on the scale, the briefing added. The Telegraph contacted the Israeli government for comment.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has faced international backlash over the situation in Gaza, with Israel announcing measures to let more aid into Gaza earlier this month.
He insisted that “hundreds of trucks” had been allowed in and said that if Israel was implementing a “starvation policy”, then “no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war”.
Mr Netanyahu pointed to disturbing images of Evyatar David, a 24-year-old Israeli hostage who looked severely malnourished in a video released by Hamas.
He said: “The only ones who are being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages.”
Reacting to the report, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, added: “You know who IS starving? The hostages kidnapped and tortured by uncivilised Hamas savages.”
Mr Netanyahu told troops on Thursday night that his cabinet had approved plans for a massive assault on Gaza City, despite international and domestic opposition.
He also said he had ordered negotiations for the release of all hostages and an end to the war in Gaza “on terms acceptable to Israel”.
“I have come to approve the IDF’s plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas. These two matters – defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages – go hand in hand,” he added.
Earlier this week, it was announced that call-up orders were being issued to 60,000 reservists of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) before the full-scale assault on the city.
IDF soldiers are said to have established a foothold on the outskirts of the city after days of intensive bombing, and Palestinians are fleeing the area in large numbers.
Israel has warned hospitals and aid organisations to prepare for mass evacuations ahead of the major offensive.
Today, defence minister Israel Katz warned Gaza City would be destroyed unless Hamas disarmed and handed over all hostages, warning the enclave’s largest city could “turn into Rafah and Beit Hanoun”, areas already reduced to rubble in the conflict.
He said: “The gates of hell will soon open on the heads of Hamas’ murderers and rapists in Gaza – until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war.”
The IPC, whose 21 partner organisations include Save the Children, Oxfam and Unicef, has forecasted that food security in Gaza will continue to deteriorate between the middle of August and end of September.
“During this period, almost a third of the population – nearly 641,000 people – are expected to face catastrophic conditions, while the number of people in emergency will likely increase to 1.14 million,” it’s report said.
This has marked “the first time a famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East region”, the briefing said, although the region has suffered hunger crises previously.
It is only the fifth time a famine has been formally declared by the IPC, with the previous four all in sub-Saharan Africa.
Israel has been under intense pressure to allow more food into the enclave, facing international criticism over its aid blockade, which has ebbed and flowed since the Hamas attacks on Oct 7 in which nearly 1,195 were murdered and 251 were taken hostage.
It has repeatedly accused Hamas of hoarding aid intended for civilians in Gaza.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Thursday that 271 people had so far died from starvation in Gaza, 112 of them children. More than half of that figure has been in the last three weeks alone.
In total, the Palestinian death toll from 22 months of war stands at 62,192, according to figures from the ministry.
Mr Netanyahu defended Israel’s handling of the humanitarian disaster in the enclave last month, claiming “there is no starvation in Gaza”.
“We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza – otherwise, there would be no Gazans,” he said.
The famine declaration came as David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, signed a statement accusing the Israeli government of a violation of international law over its plans to press ahead with an illegal settlement that would divide the occupied West Bank.
Britain and Israel have been at loggerheads ever since Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, announced that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state in September.
On Thursday, Israel’s military said it had warned medical officials and international organisations to prepare for the planned evacuation of Gaza City’s residents before its ground offensive to occupy it.
Officials were told that “adjustments” were being made to hospitals in southern Gaza to receive patients, a statement said.