Famine confirmed in Gaza City is ‘failure of humanity’, UN chief says

The United Nations chief has described the famine confirmed in Gaza City and its surrounding areas as a “failure of humanity”.

Antonio Gutteres said the situation was a “man-made disaster” after a UN-backed body, which identifies hunger levels around the world, raised its food insecurity status in parts of the territory to Phase 5 – the highest and most severe.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) says more than half a million people across Gaza are facing “catastrophic” conditions characterised by “starvation, destitution and death”.

The report was labelled an “outright lie” by Israel, which has denied there is starvation in the territory.

The UN says Israel is continuing to restrict the amount of aid entering Gaza, which Israel also denies.

Its denials are in direct contradiction to what more than 100 humanitarian groups, witnesses on the ground, multiple UN bodies, and several of Israel’s allies, including the UK, have said.

The IPC says that an “immediate, at-scale response” is needed or there will be an “unacceptable escalation” in famine-related deaths.

It predicts that between mid-August and the end of September, famine will expand across the strip to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

During this period, almost a third of the population – nearly 641,000 people – are expected to face “catastrophic conditions” in IPC Phase 5, while the number of people to face “emergency” conditions in IPC Phase 4 will likely increase to 1.14 million – or 58% of the population.

The report also projects that up to June 2026, malnutrition will threaten the lives of 132,000 children aged under five.

Since the start of the war, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has reported that 271 people have died of malnutrition – including 112 children.

Only four previous famines have been classified by the IPC since it was established in 2004, the most recent in Sudan in 2024.

The IPC cannot officially declare famine – that is usually done by governments or the United Nations.

Reem Tawfiq Khader, 41, a mother of five from Gaza City, said: “The declaration of famine came too late, but it is still important.

“We haven’t eaten any protein for five months. My youngest child is four years old – he doesn’t know what fruit and vegetables look or taste like.”

Rida Hijjeh, 29, said her five-year-old daughter Lamia’s weight had dropped from 19kg (42lbs) to 10.5kg (23lbs). She said Lamia was healthy before the war began and had no prior illnesses.

“This all happened only because of the famine,” she said. “There is simply nothing for the child to eat. There are no vegetables, no fruits.”

Now, Lamia suffers from swelling in her legs, thinning hair, and nerve problems, she said.

In response to the report, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the famine was entirely preventable, saying food could not get through to the Palestinian territory “because of systematic obstruction by Israel”.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: “Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: ‘famine’.”

He described it as “not a mystery,” but rather “a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself”.

He added that Israel has “unequivocal obligations under international law – including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population”.

Phillipe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said: “This is starvation by design & man-made by the Government of Israel”.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk described the famine as “the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli Government”, which has “unlawfully restricted” the entry of aid.

UK foreign secretary David Lammy said described the famine as a “moral outrage.”

“The Israeli government’s refusal to allow sufficient aid into Gaza has caused this man-made catastrophe,” he wrote on X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement: “Israel does not have a policy of starvation, Israel has a policy of preventing starvation. Since the beginning of the war Israel has enabled 2 million tons of aid to enter the Gaza Strip, over one ton of aid per person.”

In recent months, Israel has come under widespread international condemnation for the aid situation in the Gaza Strip.

Last month, after weeks of mounting pressure, the Israeli military said it had airdropped humanitarian aid into Gaza – a move that was criticised at the time by aid agencies as a “grotesque distraction”.

Other aid drops have since taken place – but warnings have been issued about their safety, with reports that civilians were hit and killed by the falling pallets.

Earlier this week, BBC Verify found 10 separate occasions where aid was dropped into an area that the Israeli military has explicitly warned people not to enter.

In addition to airdrops, Israel said it would designate humanitarian corridors for UN convoys. However, on Tuesday the UN warned that the “trickle of aid” entering Gaza was insufficient to “avert widespread starvation”.

Cogat, the Israeli military body in charge of aid, says roughly 300 aid trucks are entering daily, but the UN says 600 trucks of supplies a day are needed.

The IPC report comes as Israel prepares to launch a new military offensive aimed at occupying Gaza City.

Israel’s military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s population has also been displaced multiple times; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; and the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed.