UN Declares First-Ever Famine in Gaza; Warns 641,000 Could Face Starvation by September (PICS)

The UN has declared Gaza’s first-ever famine, warning over 500,000 face “catastrophic” hunger. While aid officials blame Israeli obstruction, Israel rejects the claim as “Hamas lies”, deepening the humanitarian and political crisis.

Image Credit : Getty

Half a Million People Facing "Catastrophic Hunger"

The United Nations on Friday officially declared a famine in Gaza — the first in the Middle East — warning that more than 500,000 people are facing "catastrophic" hunger. The declaration came from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC), a UN-backed coalition that monitors global hunger.

"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 IPC said in its latest assessment.

According to its projections, famine will spread from Gaza City to Deir el-Balah and Khan Yunis by the end of September, engulfing nearly two-thirds of the Palestinian territory. By then, the number of people at risk is expected to rise to 641,000 — almost a third of Gaza’s population.

Image Credit : Getty

UN: "This Should Haunt Us All"

Speaking in Geneva, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher placed the blame squarely on restrictions imposed by Israel.

"It is a famine that we could have prevented if we had been allowed. Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel," Fletcher told reporters. He described the situation as one that should "haunt us all".

The IPC report highlighted the collapse of Gaza’s food system: 98 percent of cropland has been damaged or rendered inaccessible, livestock has been wiped out, and fishing is banned. At the same time, the health system is barely functioning, and access to clean drinking water and sanitation has been drastically reduced.

Image Credit : Getty

Israel Dismisses UN Famine Declaration

Israel, however, strongly rejected the UN’s announcement. The foreign ministry issued a statement denying the existence of famine, insisting that the findings were politically motivated.

"There is no famine in Gaza," the statement said. It called the IPC’s report "based on Hamas lies laundered through organisations with vested interests".

Image Credit : Getty

The Toll of War

The IPC stressed that this was the sharpest deterioration it had recorded since beginning its assessments of Gaza. The escalation of war between Israel and Hamas has displaced hundreds of thousands of people while cutting off humanitarian and commercial supplies of food.

In early March, Israel imposed a complete ban on aid supplies into Gaza. Though limited deliveries were allowed again from late May, shortages of food, medicine and fuel remain severe.

The UN’s famine definition is precise: at least 20 percent of households must suffer extreme food shortages, at least 30 percent of children under five must be acutely malnourished, and at least two people per 10,000 must be dying daily from starvation or related disease. Gaza, the UN says, now meets these conditions.

Image Credit : Getty

A Conflict With No End in Sight

The war began after Hamas’s October 2023 assault on Israel, which killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel’s military response has since claimed at least 62,192 Palestinian lives, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry — figures the UN considers credible.

What is now unfolding, the UN warns, is not just another chapter in the war but a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions — one that might scar generations to come.