UN-backed agency declares famine in Gaza City for first time

The UN-supported Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has for the first time declared a famine in Gaza City, warning that conditions could spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis within weeks.

The decision marks a significant escalation in international assessments of Gaza’s humanitarian situation. The IPC – a watchdog used worldwide to classify food insecurity – said its latest data confirmed famine-level deprivation in the Gaza Governorate, which includes the city, surrounding towns, and refugee camps.

Israel immediately rejected the findings. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson dismissed the assessment as “a tailor-made fabricated report to fit Hamas’s fake campaign,” insisting:

“There is no famine in Gaza. Over 100,000 trucks of aid have entered since the war began, and food prices in the markets have dropped sharply. The laws of supply and demand don’t lie – the IPC does.”

The report comes amid controversy over the IPC’s methodology. Critics – citing a Washington Free Beacon investigation – allege the agency has “lowered the threshold” by relying on children’s mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) measurements, which are quicker but considered less precise than traditional weight-for-height data.

The outlet argued this shifted the malnutrition threshold from 30 percent to 15 percent when MUAC is used. A source quoted in its coverage described the change as “a pretty big shift” that made famine declarations “more possible.”

The IPC has firmly denied altering its criteria: “The statement that the IPC changed its protocols is completely false… MUAC has been used in famine classification in South Sudan in the report published in November 2020 and in the Sudan report published in December 2024. These same protocols were consistently applied in all previous IPC analyses for Gaza.”

It added that MUAC data is “often the most available” and has “a strong correlation with mortality outcomes.”

The famine designation follows a July IPC alert that warned “the worst-case scenario of famine is playing out in Gaza,” citing evidence of severe child malnutrition and mortality risk across the Strip.

Israel has repeatedly accused international agencies of bias, while aid groups say access restrictions and continued fighting are preventing the delivery of sufficient relief.