At least 130,000 children under 5 face acute malnutrition: IPC

At least 132,000 children under five in Gaza are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition through June, according to the latest IPC snapshot on the food crisis in the territory.

That’s more than double the May estimate from the IPC, the international system for monitoring world hunger and food security. This includes more than 41,000 severe cases of children at heightened risk of death.

The report said “large segments” of Gaza’s population are consuming diets “that fall extremely short in both nutritional quantity and quality”.

“Nutrition supplies for treating and preventing acute malnutrition are close to depletion due to entry restrictions, which may force health facilities to halt treatment,” it said.

Nearly 55,500 malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women also will require an urgent nutrition response, the IPC said.

Deaths from starvation in Gaza may amount to war crime, UN rights chief says

The UN human rights chief says the emergence of famine in northern Gaza is the “direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government” and the deaths from starvation might amount to a war crime.

“The famine declared today in Gaza Governorate by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government,” Volker Turk said in a statement to reporters.

“It is a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare, and the resulting deaths may also amount to the war crime of willful killing,” he added.

Conditions in North Gaza as bad or worse than in Gaza governorate: IPC

According to the IPC report that has confirmed a famine in the Gaza governorate, conditions in the North Gaza governorate, which includes cities like Beit Hanoon and Jabalia, are estimated to be just as severe or even worse.

But the IPC said it was unable to provide a food security classification for North Gaza due to limited data, highlighting an urgent need for access and assessments in the area.

The body said it had also not carried out an analysis of Rafah governorate, where Israeli military operations have caused widespread devastation, “given indications that it is largely depopulated”.

The IPC snapshot said that as of August 15, more than 281,000 people in Gaza governorate – representing 30 percent of the population – are experiencing Phase 5 levels of food insecurity, the highest rating.

More than 468,000 people, or 50 percent of the governorate’s population, were classified as experiencing Phase 4, or emergency levels.

Conditions are expected to worsen with famine conditions projected to expand to Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis governorates by the end of September.

Famine in Gaza ‘entirely man-made’, requires ceasefire, aid rollout to reverse: IPC

The famine in Gaza is “entirely man-made” and can be “halted and reversed”, the IPC’s Famine Review Committee says, but it requires an “immediate, at-scale response” to do so.

“The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading,” the committee said in a report.

“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay – even by days – will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of famine-related mortality.”

The report goes on to warn that “avoidable deaths will increase exponentially” unless a ceasefire is implemented to allow in humanitarian aid and restore the delivery of food and basic supplies to Gaza’s population immediately.

The committee said the report marked the fifth time it had been called to review an analysis on Gaza’s food crisis, noting that it had never been required to return so many times to the same crisis before.

The report said that was “a stark reflection of how suffering has not only persisted but intensified and spread until famine has begun to emerge” in Gaza.

UNRWA chief calls for ‘political will’ to end Gaza famine

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, has highlighted that “months of warnings have fallen on deaf ears”, but now the famine is now confirmed in Gaza City and the surrounding areas, it is “time for political will” to end it.

“This is starvation by design and manmade by the Government of Israel. It is the direct result of banning food and other basic supplies for months, including from UNRWA,” he said.

“The spread of famine can still be controlled by a ceasefire and allowing humanitarian organisations to do their work and reach starving people with aid,” Lazzarini added.

Months of warnings have fallen on deaf ears. #famine is now confirmed in #Gaza city.

This is starvation by design & manmade by the Government of Israel.

It is the direct result of banning food & other basic supplies for months including from @UNRWA.

The spread of famine…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 22, 2025

Gaza famine ‘a shameful global failure’: Islamic Relief

The IPC’s confirmation of famine in Gaza “brings shame on the entire world”, says humanitarian charity Islamic Relief.

“Every day our team there sees more people starving to death and children turning into living skeletons before our eyes,” the NGO said in a statement. “Many more will die unless the world acts now.”

The statement said the famine was “no accident” and was “entirely man-made, caused by Israel’s cruel and illegal blockade and the complicity of world leaders who have failed to stop the daily war crimes”.

“Never before has a famine – the most extreme and rarest form of starvation – been so widely predicted and so easily preventable, yet repeated warnings have been ignored.”

Gaza famine ‘entirely predictable’, ‘manufactured’ by Israel

Dr James Smith, an emergency physician who has worked in Gaza, says no one should be surprised at the declaration of famine in northern Gaza.

“This is a situation that was entirely predictable and has been manufactured down to the calorie by the Israeli occupation as a central pillar of its military and its genocidal strategy throughout the Gaza Strip,” Smith told Al Jazeera.

He explained that when starvation sets in, people “suffer in the most profound and undignified ways”.

“And eventually, without remedy – without the specialist, nutritional and medical support that is required – people eventually succumb from a combination often of malnutrition and concurrent infectious diseases.”

World has failed to act on warnings of Gaza famine, says Oxfam

Oxfam says the IPC’s declaration of a famine in Gaza City confirms what the charity and its partners have been witnessing for months, and has called for aid to be immediately allowed into the territory.

“The famine in Gaza is entirely driven by Israel’s near-total blockade on food and vital aid, the horrifying consequence of Israel’s violence, and its use of starvation as a weapon of war,” said Helen Stawski, policy lead at Oxfam GB, the global poverty-focused NGO’s British arm.

“Despite warnings in July that famine was imminent, Israel has continued to deprive Palestinians of food, denying almost every request from long-established humanitarian agencies, preventing them from delivering vital food and aid that could have stemmed hunger, malnutrition and disease.”

She said that Oxfam had more than $3.3m worth of aid, including high-calorie food packages, sitting in warehouses outside Gaza. “Israeli authorities have rejected it all, at a time when it is needed more than ever,” she said.

She said the failure of the UK government “to put any meaningful pressure on Israel, standing idly by as people – including babies – starve to death, is as bewildering as it is reprehensible”. “This has to stop,” she said.

‘We knew famine was going to come’

We’ve seen it happening on the ground, by the Israeli military attacking organisations, aid trucks, people who work in the aid system [and] destroying systematically the aid delivery mechanism across the Strip.

Altogether, [that] contributed to the point right now that we’re seeing: confirmed famine in Gaza.

We’re already seeing mass starvation mortality every single day. For the past month, on a daily basis, we hear about cases documented across the health facilities in Gaza City and across the Strip, of children dying of malnutrition.

It’s not just children, but also adults now, and those who are breastfeeding, those who are pregnant. Even adults who are trying to recover from their wounds are unable to recover because of this famine.

Israel ‘doesn’t care quite frankly’ about UN chief’s call for action, end to impunity

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the famine in Gaza, calling it “a man-made disaster, a moral indictment and a failure of humanity itself”.

“As the occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law – including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population. We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity,” Guterres wrote on X.

But Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo explained that, while Guterres’s remarks hint at growing pressure on Israel, the country has long disregarded the views of the UN.

“Israel doesn’t care quite frankly what the secretary-general has to say,” Elizondo said.

“They’ve not heeded any of his demands that he has been telling the Israelis for many months now. And in fact, Israel still considers the secretary-general persona non grata.”

Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: “famine”.

This is not a mystery — it is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment and a failure of humanity itself. Famine is not only about food; it is the deliberate… pic.twitter.com/1MYaxhJl4Z

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) August 22, 2025

What will it take for world to tackle ‘so clearly man-made’ famine in Gaza, ex-UN aid chief asks

Martin Griffiths, former UN humanitarian chief, says today’s “terrible announcement” of “so clearly man-made” famine in Gaza marks a critical moment for the world.

Griffiths, director of Mediation Group International, told Al Jazeera that “the world has been very, very slow – the Western world has been very slow to react to the actions of Israel in Gaza, which … we have seen clearly on the screens”.

“So, this doesn’t come as a surprise; it comes as a terrible, terrible crime,” he said.

Griffiths added that the question now becomes, what will it take for world governments to act, as they are legally required to do under the measures of the International Court of Justice, to stop selling arms to Israel and investigate what is happening?

“We’ve known that for a year, that’s what governments need to do, and almost none have done it. They’ve expressed concern; that is clearly not working,” he said.

Israel’s army chief visits occupied West Bank as military confirms 90 arrests

Israel’s army chief Eyal Zamir has visited troops in besieged Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank amid escalating attacks across Palestinian territories.

Zamir, who was accompanied by other senior commanders during the visit, was quoted by the military statement as saying that nowhere is out of reach for Israeli soldiers to “continue enabling operational freedom of action”.

He also said the Israeli army is “expanding activity in Gaza” and “the campaign is ongoing”.

The army confirmed that it has arrested at least 90 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank over the past several days, and claimed that this included a “key terrorist” taken from Jenin.

UN Aid chief declares famine in Gaza, BBC reporter says ‘Israel denies this’

UN Aid Chief Tom Fletcher today held an emergency press conference to declare that Gaza was officially in the grip of a famine caused by the forced starvation of Benjamin Netanyahu. However, when he opened the floor for questions from reporters, it was the BBC representative, Imogen Foulkes, who used the opportunity to say that Israel had consistently denied the reports of famine in Gaza adding that even ordinary Israelis didn’t think there was any shortage of food faced by Palestinians.

UN: "There's starvation in Gaza." BBC: "Well that's not what the people doing the starving are saying."

"We've seen the murderer committing the murder. The murderer has admitted in his own language that he committed the murder. Still, if the murderer now says he didn't do it, who are we to question it?" - the BBC

UK’s Lammy says Gaza famine ‘utterly ‘horrifying’, calls for ceasefire

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says the confirmation of famine by the UN in parts of Gaza is “utterly horrifying and is wholly preventable”, and that Israel’s refusal to allow sufficient aid has created a “man-made catastrophe”.

“The Government of Israel can and must immediately act to stop the situation deteriorating any further. It must immediately and sustainably allow unhindered food, medical supplies, fuel, and all types of aid to reach those who so desperately need them,” he added.

Lammy reiterated calls for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire”, warning that Israel’s military operations in Gaza City will worsen famine and jeopardise the safety of captives.

‘We are in a race against time’: FAO expert

The UN is hosting a briefing with experts on the IPC’s findings of famine in Gaza.

Rein Paulsen, director of Office of Emergencies and Resilience at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), explained that the analysis was conducted by 50 experts from 19 organisations.

He also stressed that the report was subjected to standard IPC protocols to ensure “technical rigour and neutrality of analysis”.

“This latest analysis outlines in clear detail the scale, nature and the magnitude of the famine unfolding,” Paulsen told reporters.

“And I would simply stress and underscore that the message of the analysis that you read in the report is that we are in a race against time, that every effort must be made for immediate and decisive action to prevent further loss of life and alleviate suffering.”

‘Child survival crisis’ in Gaza, UNICEF official warns

Samir Elhawary, the acting deputy director of emergency programmes at UNICEF, says today’s famine declaration marks “a tragic and devastating milestone” for Palestinian children in Gaza.

“Within this humanitarian emergency in Gaza, there’s a real child survival crisis. We’re seeing malnutrition accelerating at a catastrophic pace. And for many – far too many – children, it’s already too late,” Elhawary said during the UN briefing in New York.

He said UNICEF has been warning for months that conditions were rapidly deteriorating in the Gaza Strip, pushing children into dangerous situations.

“The signs were unmistakable: children with wasted bodies, too weak to cry or to eat; babies dying of hunger and preventable disease, and parents arriving at clinics without enough food to feed their children,” Elhawary said.

“Today’s report confirms our worst fears, that children’s diets have collapsed, with basic nutrition out of reach for most. The consequences are immediate, with wasting, disease and in far too many cases, death.”


_{Fourteen-month-old Hazar Arfa receives treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, August 15}

UNRWA ‘needs to be put back on its feet’ to tackle Gaza famine

Chris Gunness, a former spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), has stressed that today’s famine declaration comes after UNRWA was “deliberately dismantled”.

The agency’s Western donors, including the White House in particular, “stood by” and watched the agency be dismantled, Gunness told Al Jazeera. “UNRWA is the only organisation now that can really make an impact,” he said.

“They have a wide network of warehouses, of food distribution centres, of staff, of lists of refugees and people who are starving in Gaza,” Gunness explained.

“Only UNRWA can deal with this crisis. UNRWA needs to be legitimised once more … And if the crossings are opened as the head humanitarian in the UN has demanded, UNRWA needs to be put back on its feet and UNRWA needs to get on with its job.”

‘We cannot let famine become a death sentence for more of Gaza’s children’

“It’s important to emphasise that children are starving not because food doesn’t exist, but because aid cannot reach them in time,” Elhawary said.

He added that if access improves, the lives of Palestinian children can be saved. But they need: