Famine was officially declared Friday in part of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, by the world’s leading authority on hunger as Israel vowed to raze the area if Hamas doesn’t agree to its terms.
The declaration of famine by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, comes as deaths from starvation rise across the Palestinian enclave in a spiraling crisis under Israel’s military assault and aid restrictions.
Israel’s military is preparing to push ahead with a new operation to seize Gaza City that could displace hundreds of thousands of people and worsen the dire situation there. It has launched intense strikes on the city this week after announcing it had begun the first stage of its planned assault.
Famine declared
The IPC, an internationally-recognized system for classifying food insecurity and malnutrition, said in its report Friday morning that famine had been confirmed in the Gaza Governorate — and that it was projected to expand to the Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis Governorates further south by the end of September if the humanitarian situation does not change.
Malnutrition now threatens the lives of 132,000 children under five, including 41,000 severe cases, doubling May’s numbers, the IPC said.
“Famine is a race against time,” the IPC said. “An immediate ceasefire and end to the conflict is critical to enabling an unimpeded, large-scale humanitarian response to save lives.”
The United Nations-backed body had up until now only declared famine on four other occasions since it was first established in 2004, most recently in Sudan last year.
Mike Huckabee, the United States’ ambassador to Israel, attacked the IPC’s famine declaration before it was officially announced.
“You know who IS starving? The hostages kidnapped and tortured by uncivilized Hamas savages,” he said in a post on X early Friday. “Maybe the over fed terrorists could share some of their warehouse full they stole with hungry people especially the hostages.”
Israel rejected the IPC’s declaration on Friday, with its foreign ministry saying it had published a “fabricated report to fit Hamas’s fake campaign” in a post on X.
The IPC
COGAT, the Israeli military’s liaison with the Palestinians, rejected the IPC’s report, calling it “false and biased” and suggesting it was “based on partial data” originating from Hamas.
Israel has repeatedly denied reports of growing starvation in Gaza, while seeking to blame any hunger in the enclave on humanitarian groups for failing to distribute enough aid.
Israel threatens ‘gates of hell’ on Gaza City
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Friday to open the “gates of hell” on Gaza City until Hamas agreed to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, including the release of all hostages and the militant group’s complete disarmament.
If not, he said, the city would “become like Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” areas that have been largely reduced to ruins under Israel’s 22-month offensive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a day earlier that he had authorized the operation to take over Gaza City, while also revealing he had instructed “immediate negotiations” to begin for a deal to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of the hostages who remain held in the enclave.
The video statement followed days of silence after Hamas announced it had accepted a ceasefire proposal put forward by Arab mediators.
The IPC’s declaration comes just over three weeks after it warned that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was already unfolding in the Palestinian enclave under Israel’s deadly offensive and crippling aid restrictions — but it had emphasized the alert was not a formal famine classification.
Aid groups have repeatedly warned in recent weeks there is still not enough food entering Gaza to stave off famine.
Meanwhile, deaths from starvation in Gaza have continued to rise.
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said on Monday it had recorded three new adult deaths “due to famine and malnutrition” within a 24-hour period, bringing the total death toll from starvation to 266 people, including 112 children.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.
Since then, more than 62,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to the local Palestinian health ministry, with much of the territory destroyed.
Among the dead are hundreds of people who have been killed while trying to seek aid following the introduction of a new distribution system led by the Israel and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
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