‘War crime that should haunt us all’: UN declares first Middle East famine in Gaza City; Israel dismisses claim as ‘Hamas lies’

The United Nations on Friday confirmed that famine has struck Gaza City, marking the first officially declared famine in the Middle East. The declaration came from the integrated food security phase classification (IPC), the world’s leading authority on food crises.The IPC report said famine was now occurring in the Gaza Governorate, which includes Gaza City and accounts for around 20 per cent of the territory. Experts cautioned that the crisis could extend to southern areas like Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah without an immediate ceasefire and full access for humanitarian aid.

‘A famine that haunts us all’: UN aid chief

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher delivered a message during a briefing in Geneva, saying the famine was entirely preventable.

“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 said. He called the situation “a famine that will and must haunt us all”.UN rights chief Volker Turk said "it is a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare", moments after famine was declared.According to the IPC, from early July to mid-August, Gaza witnessed the sharpest deterioration in food security since monitoring began.

One-third of Gaza’s population is projected to face catastrophic levels of hunger by the end of next month, the report stated.

‘Hamas lies’: Israeli government

Israeli foreign ministry dismissed the UN-backed report as “false and biased”. In a statement, it said: “There is no famine in Gaza,” and claimed the findings were based on “Hamas lies laundered through organisations with vested interests”.Similarly, COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for aid transfers, called the report “false and biased” and said significant steps have been taken recently to increase aid delivery to Gaza.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also rejected reports of starvation.

Why is Gaza now officially in famine?

Famine classification requires strict conditions to be met, and the IPC uses a globally recognised system. It labels an area as being in famine when three criteria are confirmed:

The IPC said data collected between July 1 and August 15 showed these thresholds had been reached in Gaza City. Mortality data is harder to confirm due to access restrictions.

First famine in the Middle East

This is the first time the IPC has confirmed famine in the Middle East. The organisation has previously declared famine in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and parts of Sudan’s Darfur region in 2023.The IPC includes over a dozen UN agencies, governments, and humanitarian organisations. An independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) also verified the Gaza findings, adding another layer of scrutiny.

Why are deaths hard to track

Experts note that deaths during famine often occur from a combination of malnutrition and infection rather than hunger alone. “There are no standard guidelines for physicians to classify cause of death as ‘malnutrition’ as opposed to infection,” said Alex de Waal, author of Mass Starvation and executive director of the World Peace Foundation.He explained that diarrhoea and dehydration linked to infections commonly affect children with severe malnutrition. Most excess deaths in such crises result from disease, deprivation, and malnutrition together, rather than starvation alone.The IPC warned that without a ceasefire and unrestricted aid deliveries, famine conditions will spread beyond Gaza City within weeks. “The situation is worsening at an unprecedented pace,” the report said.Since the conflict began on October 7, 2023, following Hamas’ attack on Israel, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry.