‘Famine isn’t just a word – it’s a technical term’: WFP

Jean-Martin Bauer, a UN World Food Programme (WFP) director who has worked to combat hunger in West Africa, Syria, Iraq and Central Africa, explains how significant the use of the word “famine” is to describe the situation in Gaza.

The expert outlined how the term is arrived at through a globally accepted process with clear standards and conditions that relate to the number of deaths from starvation and the share of population and children suffering from extreme food shortages and acute malnutrition.

What responsibilities do other countries have to intervene in Gaza?

Ralph Wilde, a law professor at University College London, explains that, as outlined by the International Court of Justice last year, Israel’s presence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank is illegal.

Additionally, its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza – including through its use of apartheid, genocide, crimes against humanity and serious violations of the laws of war, including using starvation as a weapon of war – violates international law.

“Because the rules violated have a special fundamental character, all states are themselves subject to a special legal duty that they wouldn’t ordinarily have, to end these violations,” Wilde told Al Jazeera.

“The violations that have created this famine, these other states have what’s called a responsibility to protect the Palestinian people. This means taking all action within their power, including completely ending trade relations with Israel.”

He added that any governments that continue to support Israel, “including through weapons sales, military aid and intelligence sharing, are inevitably supporting these violations and are therefore themselves acting illegally”.

Gaza famine declaration ‘must mark end of US complicity’: CAIR

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says today’s findings of famine in northern Gaza must push US President Donald Trump and the US Congress to end Washington’s unwavering support for Israel.

“This famine is not a natural disaster — it is the intended outcome of Israel’s brutal blockade, targeted destruction of food systems, and systematic obstruction of humanitarian aid. For months, international aid organizations have sounded the alarm,” CAIR wrote on X.

The advocacy group described the famine in Gaza as “Israeli-made and US-backed”.

The US has provided billions of dollars in military assistance to Israel since it launched its war on Gaza in October 2023 while also shielding the country from accountability at the UN and other international bodies.

‘People are exhausted, fearful’ as Israel bombards Gaza City

As Israel pushes ahead with its plan to seize Gaza City and displace about one million people living there, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) notes that displacement sites across the enclave are already “at breaking point”.

“People are exhausted and fearful, caught between staying in Gaza City and fleeing south. Both choices are terrifying, and no one knows what to do”, Salma Altaweel, NRC’s northern Gaza office manager, said in a statement.

The humanitarian group also noted that more than 86 percent of Gaza is already under forced displacement or closed military zone orders by the Israeli military.

“There will be a damning historical verdict on global leaders who confine themselves to express ‘concern’ as civilians in Gaza are bombarded, displaced and starved”, NRC chief Jan Egeland said.

“An immediate ceasefire is the only way to stop the killing, secure the release of all hostages, and allow the massive humanitarian response needed to save lives.”

_{Palestinians salvage items from the rubble of homes destroyed in Israeli attacks in Gaza City, August 19}

Israel makes getting any aid into Gaza ‘a gargantuan task’

That’s according to Chris McIntosh, a humanitarian response adviser at Oxfam in Gaza who says Israel has sidelined “the entire humanitarian community”.

“Ourselves and 60 other organisations were told that we’re simply not authorised to bring in the shipments [of aid],” McIntosh told Al Jazeera.

“Other organisations have been told that there are security concerns about bringing in things like generators. There are concerns about dual-purpose items like solar panels and tents being brought in,” he said.

“So there’s no end to the byzantine bureaucracy of Israel and these very flimsy excuses for not allowing us to do our jobs.”

McIntosh added that what little food is available in Gaza is limited, expensive and not nutritious, which causes acute malnutrition and starvation, particularly among children. “The situation here is catastrophic on multiple levels.”

Palestinians face ‘starvation, disease, and death’ in Gaza City: MSF

Israel’s intensified assault on Gaza City has forced Palestinians once again to flee in search of safety while causing destruction and “carnage” across the city, Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, is warning.

Amande Bazerolle, the head of MSF’s emergency response in Gaza, said the group’s clinics in the area have seen large numbers of patients as people leave bombarded neighbourhoods, including Zeitoun.

“All this is happening while famine in Gaza City has been declared by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). You couldn’t imagine something more cynical: people being starved as the Israeli forces invade and destroy any life that remains,” Bazerolle said in a statement.

“This will lead to a complete and utter humanitarian disaster. As the Israeli forces accelerate their campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing by expanding their military ground invasion into Gaza City, Palestinians trapped there face starvation, disease, and death.”

Gaza authorities say famine report establishes ‘fact that cannot be manipulated’

Gaza’s Government Media Office says the IPC report and comments from UN officials and even Donald Trump confirm that famine in Gaza is now “a proven fact” that may amount to war crimes.

The reality in Gaza is even more grave and catastrophic than depicted in the UN-backed report, the office said in a statement, calling on the international community to intervene.

It said Israel’s own data on allowing several dozen trucks of aid into Gaza on average during the past weeks show that the volume of aid going in is much lower than needed by the famine-stricken population in the enclave. The figures “incriminate, not exonerate” Israeli authorities, the office added.

The statement said the technical terms used in the IPC report indicate that famine is now “a fact that cannot be manipulated” by Israel or its allies, and that “any state or organisation that turns a blind eye to this crime becomes complicit in its continuation and falls under the scope of international law”.

‘For seven months, my baby has not had a single glass of milk’

Defense for Children International-Palestine has shared the story of Sabreen S, a Palestinian mother in Gaza, and her daily struggle to try to feed her 20-month-old daughter, Mayar.

“I can’t provide anything for her – no flour, no vegetables,” Sabreen said. “We’re even suffering from a water shortage and even preparing a simple meal has become impossible.”

Sabreen explained that she also struggles to buy diapers for Mayar, with each one now costing $5 (17 Israeli shekels). “I simply don’t have the money. If I were to buy them, I would be unable to afford food.”

Kuwait says following Gaza’s famine announcement ‘with great concern’

Kuwait has denounced the “policy of starvation, oppression, and displacement” pursued by Israel against civilians in Gaza.

The country’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Israel’s policy is “in blatant violation of international law and international humanitarian law”, as well as UN Security Council resolutions and in disregard of relevant international legitimacy resolutions.

Kuwait called on the international community and the Security Council to take action “to allow the urgent entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, to halt the genocide being perpetrated against the brotherly Palestinian people, and to hold the occupying power accountable for the crimes it commits against humanity”.

Dutch foreign minister resigns after failing to secure Israel sanctions

After a two-day, very heated debate in the Dutch Parliament, Caspar Veldkamp – the acting foreign minister – decided to resign.

He was increasingly getting frustrated by the fact that he wanted to push for more sanctions against Israel … but the other ministers, his colleagues, were against it. He also came under increasing pressure from lawmakers, especially from the opposition in Parliament, who have been really requesting stricter sanctions against Israel.

The minister announced a few weeks ago travel bans for two Israeli ministers. But he said that now, with the attacks on Gaza City and the increasing aggression from Israel, the Dutch government should be doing more.

He has also been pushing for the suspension of the trade agreement that the EU has with Israel, and also, increasingly, he became frustrated because Germany was blocking that.

‘History will never forgive us’: Amnesty International

Amnesty International has warned that “with every hour that passes without decisive international action, more Palestinian lives are lost, and Gaza City edges closer to complete annihilation”.

Erika Guevara Rosas, the group’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, said in a statement that today’s famine declaration is “a scathing indictment of the failure of states to press Israel into ending its genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip”.

“This famine is the direct consequence of Israel’s deliberate campaign of starvation in Gaza,” she said.

“The deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid, the destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure, and the direct killings of civilians are a clear manifestation of how Israel is inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza as part of its ongoing genocide.”

She added: “History will never forgive us for standing by as emaciated children die, while food remains just miles away, yet blocked by Israel.”

Main events on August 22nd

• Top UN officials, a number of states and international organisations condemned Israel after a globally accepted UN monitor officially declared famine in Gaza as a result of Israel’s policy of starvation, something that could amount to war crimes.
• The Israeli army killed dozens more Palestinians across Gaza as it keeps pushing civilians, doctors and journalists out of Gaza City in the north, blowing up its neighbourhoods.
• Yemen’s Houthis said they launched a ballistic missile and two drones towards Tel Aviv and Ashkelon, disrupting operations at Ben Gurion airport, with Israel saying one drone was intercepted and missile fragments fell over Tel Aviv after the projectile disintegrated.
• Israeli soldiers initiated raids across the occupied West Bank, including in Jenin and the al-Mughayyir village northeast of Ramallah, while settlers launched more armed attacks on Palestinians.
• Protesters blocked off routes in Tel Aviv and demonstrated in Jerusalem to demand a deal to bring back all captives held in Gaza from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• Dutch acting Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp resigned after he was opposed by ministers and lawmakers in trying to push for more sanctions against Israel.

Israeli soldiers raid across occupied West Bank, back violent settler attacks

Local Palestinian outlets, including Wafa news agency, have reported a series of attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers across the occupied West Bank in recent hours:

Why No Military Intervention Against Israel? Hypocrisy of ‘Responsibility to Protect’

The Western elite once claimed ignorance during the Holocaust. Today, Israel’s genocide in Gaza unfolds in full view, yet nothing is done. The most powerful states arm the perpetrator while the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine they have long celebrated is now ignored, except where it continues to serve the U.S. empire.

Historian Tarik Cyril Amar joins Rania Khalek to discuss the hypocrisy of R2P, why no coalition has formed to intervene, the weaponization of Holocaust memory, Europe’s empty gestures on Palestinian statehood, and the complicity of Western media in genocide. You can follow his work at https://www.tarikcyrilamar.com/ and his weekly analysis of world events at Syriana Analysis.

UN Aid chief’s powerful words on Gaza famine expose enablers from the West

Tom Fletcher, who heads the UN aid operation, on Friday dropped a bombshell by announcing what was already public knowledge to many. He said that Gaza was officially experiencing a famine. His opening remarks were incredibly powerful as he highlighted those whose silence and indifference had also contributed to the goings on in the besieged Palestinian territory. Rifat Jawaid looks at the collusion of the western media and how it is refusing to learn from its past mistakes.

Four children killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza’s Khan Younis

Medical sources from the Kuwait Hospital in Gaza said that four children were killed and several others were injured in an early morning Israeli air strike in southern Khan Younis.

According to the sources, the victims were killed by Israeli fire while sheltering in tents for forcibly displaced Palestinians.

Israeli shelling on tents in Gaza’s Asdaa area kills several displaced Palestinians

A medical source at Nasser Hospital has told Al Jazeera that 12 Palestinians, including six children, were killed in an Israeli shelling in the Asdaa area in southern Gaza.

The shelling targeted tents of displaced Palestinians seeking shelter in the area northwest of Khan Younis.

Death toll in Israeli shelling in Asdaa rises to 17

The death toll from the Israeli shelling that targeted tents of displaced Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza has risen to 17.

Israeli attacks kill three people in Khan Younis and Gaza City

At least two people were killed and 14 wounded by Israeli drone fire that targeted a tent housing displaced people in Khan Younis. In central Gaza, one person was killed and many were wounded by an Israeli air strike on a house in the Sabra neighbourhood.

Eight people die due to malnutrition in Gaza

The Palestinian Health Ministry reports that eight people, including two children, have died of malnutrition in the past 24 hours.

Overall, 281 people, including 114 children, have died due to the Israel-induced starvation crisis in the enclave.

Palestinians call for ‘mercy’ amid intensifying Israeli attacks

Awad Abu Agala, uncle of two children who were killed by an Israeli attack on tents for displaced people, said no place in Gaza is safe.

“The entire Gaza Strip is being bombed … in the south, north, everywhere,” Abu Agala told The Associated Press.

A grieving relative, Hekmat Foujo, pleaded for a ceasefire. “We want to rest,” Foujo said, fighting through her tears. ‘’Have some mercy on us.”

_{Mourners gather around the shrouded bodies of Palestinians, including children, who were killed in an Israeli air strike targeting multiple neighbourhoods across Gaza City, Gaza}

Probe finds at least 64 attacks on Palestinian civilians seeking food aid

A joint investigation conducted by the Forensic Architecture and the World Peace Foundation has found at least 64 incidents of Palestinian civilians being attacked by the Israeli army while seeking aid in Gaza.

The report said that the attacks include 25 incidents recorded at and around food distribution sites of the controversial GHF run by the US and Israel. The report said that Palestinians were forced to walk an average of 6km (3.7 miles) to arrive at a GHF ration station.

“In the face of well-established humanitarian principles that require that humanitarian aid not be misused for military or political ends, Israel is instrumentalizing aid,” the report said.


_{Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy on the outskirts of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza}

Field hospitals becoming front line of survival

Field hospitals are the front line of survival – fragile, improvised, yet indispensable. In these tents, Gaza’s war-wounded wait for care that was once delivered in fully equipped hospitals.

These tents are neither permanent nor sufficient. But without them, countless lives would be lost. These makeshift hospitals exist because Gaza’s health system has been dismantled by Israel. The WHO says 94 percent of Gaza’s hospitals are damaged or destroyed.

Aid organisations caution that the balance has collapsed. As demand surges and hospitals falter, the makeshift tents of Gaza have become critical.

Gaza’s healthcare system is in a freefall and now tents have become lifelines. For the wounded, this is survival on the edge of catastrophe.

Daily occupancy rate in Gaza’s hospitals skyrockets

Bassam Zaqout, the director of the Medical Relief Society in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that the daily occupancy rate in Gaza’s hospitals has reached 300 percent.

“Unfortunately, the operating rooms and the number of surgeons are far fewer than the number of injuries arriving at hospitals,” he said.

Most of the hospitals and medical clinics in Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli forces since October 2023, forcing many Palestinians to crowd into the few remaining hospitals, many of which are either partly destroyed or are in desperate need of medical supplies.

More than 300,000 children in Gaza suffering from malnutrition: Hospital director

The director of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, has spoken to Al Jazeera about the malnutrition crisis in the enclave. Here is a summary of his translated comments:

Famine in Gaza can be stopped: UNRWA

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has renewed its call on Israel to allow the agency to bring aid into Gaza to stop the ongoing famine.

“UNRWA’s warehouses alone in Jordan and Egypt are full. There is enough food, medicines and hygiene supplies ready to fill 6,000 trucks,” the agency said in a statement on X.

“Reverse the ongoing catastrophe – flood Gaza with a massive scale up of aid through the United Nations including UNRWA.”

On Friday, the UN classification system used to determine access to food officially declared famine in Gaza, saying more than half a million Palestinians are facing catastrophic famine conditions, which include starvation, destitution and death.

Time for Israel to ‘stop denying the famine it has created’

Commissioner General of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, says it’s time for the Israeli government to “stop denying the famine it has created in Gaza”.

“All of those who have influence must use it with determination & a sense of moral duty. Every hour counts,” Lazzarini wrote on X in response to a statement by UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher.

On Friday, Fletcher announced the findings of a UN-backed IPC report that declared famine was present in the enclave after more than 22 months of war and an ongoing siege on humanitarian aid by Israel.