Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a famine declaration in parts of Gaza, a severe spike in oil prices in Russia, and China’s guest list for an upcoming security meeting.
‘Catastrophic Conditions’
“Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: ‘famine,’” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres wrote on social media on Friday. His statement was in response to a new report released that same day by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the world’s leading hunger monitor, which found that famine is currently occurring in Gaza City and the surrounding areas.
The report, which notes that more than half a million Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing famine and “catastrophic conditions,” marks the first official confirmation of famine in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israel-Hamas war almost two years ago and the first time the IPC has declared a famine in the Middle East.
According to the report, the place facing the most extreme hunger is the Gaza Governorate, which consists of Gaza City and the surrounding territory. The IPC report classifies the situation there as a “Phase 5” famine—the most severe level, which is characterized by “starvation, destitution, and death.”
Additionally, according to the report, another million people—half of Gaza’s population—are facing emergency levels of malnourishment, and 132,000 children under 5 years old risk death due to acute malnutrition.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected the findings, accusing the IPC of publishing “a ‘tailor-made’ fabricated report to fit Hamas’s fake campaign.” The ministry also asserted that aid has been allowed to flow into Gaza and denied the existence of famine, continuing the trend of Israeli officials playing down the severity of hunger in the enclave.
Israel has heavily restricted aid access in Gaza over the course of the war, including enforcing an 11-week blockade on all humanitarian aid inflows in March. Though it lifted that blockade in May under strong international pressure, Israel has continued to impose restrictions, claiming that doing so is necessary to prevent Hamas from hijacking aid. The IPC report also found that Israeli efforts to loosen restrictions have proved “insufficient.”
The report comes as Israel calls in more reservists and continues to prepare for an invasion into Gaza City in an attempt to snuff out Hamas and retrieve hostages, despite the location’s high density of Palestinian civilians. On Thursday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved military plans to take control of Gaza City and ordered “immediate negotiations” to release hostages.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on social media on Friday in response to Netanyahu’s approval, saying, “Soon, the gates of hell will open upon the heads of Hamas’s murderers and rapists in Gaza—until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and their disarmament.
“If they do not agree, Gaza, the capital of Hamas, will become Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” he added. “Exactly as I promised—so it shall be.” Those two cities have been flattened by Israeli military operations over the course of the war.
The IPC report warns that due to the inability of outside parties to enter Gaza, the current statistics could be an underestimate of the actual conditions and that the situation will continue to worsen. Humanitarian organizations and world leaders have used this as an opportunity to reassert calls for a sustainable cease-fire that would put an end to the war.
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What We’re Following
Oil anxieties. Russian oil prices have spiked following Ukraine’s ramped-up attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure this month—including targeting major refining facilities and the Druzhba pipeline—setting the stage for a fuel crisis. The attacks serve Ukraine by directly countering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ability to maintain an economy that can sustain the cost of war.
The Ukrainian attacks have been accompanied by increasing reports of fuel shortages across Russia and those countries still accepting Russian oil. According to the Moscow Times, Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks have disabled around 13 percent of Russia’s refining capabilities since the start of August.
Hungarian and Slovakian officials said on Friday that their Russian oil supplies could be suspended for at least five days, the second time this week that Ukrainian attacks have led to such a shut-off. While the European Union has largely divested from Russian energy supplies since the start of the war and is moving forward with plans to fully phase them out by the end of 2027, Slovakia and Hungary have continued to oppose sanctions against Russia and the phase-out plan.
Exclusive guest list. More than 20 government leaders will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1, Beijing announced on Friday. Among those planned to be in attendance are Putin, Guterres, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have also been invited. The political and security meeting will facilitate discussion for how the countries can strengthen their ties and China’s influence in the region.
“The more turbulent and complex the international situation becomes, the more important it is for all countries to strengthen unity and cooperation,” Bin said during a news conference about summit preparations. He also alluded to excluding the United States from the group, saying that the event represents a break from the ethos of “a certain country” that “seeks to put its national interest above the interest of others.” Many of those planned to be in attendance lead countries that have been hit particularly hard by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Transit development. Turkey broke ground on a new rail line on Friday in the latest step of development to encourage economic ties and connectivity among Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. This comes following the U.S.-brokered deal signed earlier this month that attempts to soothe decades of conflict and regional fragmentation over the disputed Zangezur corridor.
The 224-kilometer (140-mile) railway will be part of the transit corridor in the Southern Caucasus connecting Turkey’s northeastern Kars province to Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave through southern Armenia, according to Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu, who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony.
The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, which the U.S. has gained exclusive rights to oversee development of, has been a controversial point in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process. Through the deal, Azerbaijan has secured land access to its exclave through Armenia’s sovereign territory. Azerbaijan is also calling for Armenia to amend its constitution to remove any reference to the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region before finalizing the peace treaty. However, despite lingering tensions, the transit development will also help counteract Armenia’s economic isolation and reopen its borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan.
What in the World?
Rwandan-backed M23 rebels did not attend scheduled peace talks with the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Monday, giving as their reason the accusation that the Congolese government was doing what?
A. Continuing to attack territory that M23 had seized
B. Negotiating with Rwanda to strip funding from the group
C. Preventing the group from accessing mines
D. Working with military contractors to destroy the group
Odds and Ends
Earlier this month, India’s Supreme Court ruled that all stray dogs in New Delhi and the surrounding areas—which are estimated to number between 500,000 and 1 million—were to be moved into shelters after an increase in dog bites and rabies cases. But on Friday, the court ordered the release of all the stray dogs to their neighborhoods of origin following sterilization and immunization, unless they showed signs of aggression or rabies. Designated feeding spaces will also be created across the capital, as called for by the order. The new ruling was welcomed by animal rights groups such as Peta, which celebrated the decision saying, “They say every dog has her day, and today is the day [for India’s] community dogs.”
And the Answer Is…
A. Continuing to attack territory that M23 had seized
A Qatari-facilitated cease-fire and U.S.-brokered peace agreement have so far failed to quell the fighting in eastern Congo, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi writes in Africa Brief.
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The post Famine Confirmed in Gaza City, According to New Report appeared first on Foreign Policy.
