What Does It Mean For Parts of Gaza to be Declared as Famine-Struck?

New Delhi: Although Gaza has faced a severe food crisis for the last few months, a global food security initiative that includes UN agencies has for the first time declared a 'famine’ around the beleaguered coastal strip's capital city.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC, a ‘famine’ is declared only when food deprivation reaches an extreme level, which involves breaching certain thresholds in three critical parameters: extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition and starvation-related deaths.

This signifies the worst ever form of food scarcity that any part of Gaza has ever experienced since Israel began its military campaign in the territory in October 2023.

The IPC, which released its findings in a report on Friday (August 22), is a partnership of various organisations that includes the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the WHO, UNICEF and the World Food Programme.

It has declared that “reasonable evidence” exists to confirm that as of August 15, the Gaza governorate – which is home to the strip's capital Gaza City – is undergoing a famine, which it has described as “entirely man-made”.

Its assessment classifies famine under the category of IPC Phase 5. This is the worst category of food insecurity.

Phase 1 indicates no or minimal food insecurity, while Phases 2 through 4 reflect either increasing stress on households or intensifying malnutrition levels.

Phase 5 levels of food insecurity occur when households “have an extreme lack of food and/or are unable to meet other basic needs even after full employment of coping strategies”, per the IPC.

When applied to households, Phase 5 levels are also termed ‘catastrophic’. For the classification to apply to entire areas – when it is termed a ‘famine’ – the said places must “have extreme critical levels of acute malnutrition and mortality” as well.

The IPC's five phases of food insecurity. Photo: Screenshot from IPC website.

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In terms of absolute numbers, all 1.98 million people analysed in the Gaza Strip's Gaza, Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates suffered from food insecurity levels that were at least bad enough to be classified as IPC Phase 3 between July 1 and August 15. The number of households experiencing extreme hunger in these governorates also doubled between May and July.

The initiative said it did not have enough data from North Gaza to publish a classification of its population and excluded the Rafah governorate as it is largely depopulated.

Some 513,720 people in the three governorates that were analysed faced Phase 5-level food insecurity or ‘catastrophic’ conditions.

For the time period between August 16 and September 30, the IPC projected that all three governorates would be experiencing a famine. Over 640,000 people or 32% of the total are projected to face catastrophic conditions during this time frame.

Although the IPC said it did not have enough information to publish a classification for the North Gaza governorate, it estimated that this province likely faces food insecurity that is “as severe or worse” than in the Gaza governorate in which it has already declared a famine.

At present, more than 90% of children under two are not able to have two meals in a day.

According to the IPC, four reasons are responsible for the catastrophic situation.

1. The conflict itself, which has claimed over 62,000 deaths and caused 155,000 injuries. 
2. The ongoing displacement has also significantly contributed. Almost 800,000 people have been displaced while 86% of the Gaza Strip falls either under militarised zones or displacement orders. “In total, 1.9 million people – 90% of the population – have been displaced multiple times since the onset of the conflict. Most families are living in unsafe and overcrowded conditions, while others are sleeping in the open,” says the report.
3. From mid-March, access to humanitarian as well as commercial supplies of food and other essential items including water, medicines, shelter and fuel has been “critically restricted”.
4. More than 98% of cropland in the Gaza Strip is damaged, inaccessible or both. Livestock has been “decimated” while fishing has been prohibited, all of which have contributed to the collapse of the territory's food system, the IPC said.

Famine declaration marks a ‘failure of humanity’: UN chief

“People in Gaza have exhausted every possible means of survival,” FAO director general Qu Dongyu was quoted as saying in a press statement released by UN agencies. “Our priority must now be safe and sustained access for large-scale food assistance. Access to food is not a privilege – it is a basic human right.”

The IPC report too stressed the need for immediate action. “As this famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed. The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed,” it said.

Terming the famine a ‘failure of humanity’, UN chief Antonio Guterres once again called upon Israel to follow international laws.

“As the occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law – including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population,” he said.

Reacting to the IPC report, UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X: “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.”

Lazzarini proposed that the spread of famine could still be controlled by a ceasefire that would allow humanitarian aid to reach starving Gazans.

This is not the first time that international agencies have flagged deaths due to starvation in Gaza, with warnings of mass starvation being sounded as early as end-2023. The International Criminal Court also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-defence minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 on the ‘reasonable grounds’ that they were responsible for the “war crime of starvation as a method of warfare”.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a statement issued on August 7 that Israel was weaponising hunger and that Tel Aviv's “failed experiment with militarised, privatised aid delivery by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has inflicted severe food shortages,” citing experts.

So far, from 2011, famine has been declared in Somalia (2011), South Sudan (2017), South Sudan (2020) and Sudan (2024). The Gaza governorate – and potentially Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis as well as North Gaza – have the dubious distinction of joining  this league.

Israeli attacks on starving Gazans compound severity of situation

Not only are Gazans – including children – facing acute malnutrition, they are also attacked by Israeli forces when they go to collect food.

There are recorded incidents of Israel attempting to kill children as they tried to obtain food. The Palestine wing of the Defense for Children International (DCIP) NGO noted instances where two boys were shot by Israel on July 27.

One of the victims told the DCIP that he was shot by Israeli tanks while rushing to collect aid.

“As soon as the gate opened, we rushed towards the gate when five Israeli tanks appeared and opened fire directly at us, resulting in numerous martyrs and injuries,” said 15-year-old Mohammad Al-Hwaiti from Deir al-Balah. He said he was struck in the head by an expanding bullet.

“I still experience intense pain on the left side of my head, where the shrapnel struck,” he added. All he wanted to do was to eat, he said.

Such attacks by Israeli forces would only exacerbate hunger.

Mothers have also reported the huge risk they take to get food for their children.

“I am a widow and a mother of six … children, one of whom is injured,” Enaam Siam told the UN news initiative. “Every day, I go out amidst death to bring them food. I see the dead and wounded.”

At least 1,373 Palestinians were killed while seeking food in Gaza between May 27 and August 1, with the Israeli military responsible for most of them, the OHCHR said earlier this month. It added that it had “no information that these Palestinians were directly participating in hostilities or posed any threat to Israeli security forces or other individuals”.

“Our teams on the ground – UNRWA teams and other United Nations teams – have spoken to survivors of these killings, these starving children included, who were shot at while on their way to pick up very little food,” said Juliette Touma, UNRWA Director of Communications, in another press release from last month.

Water, sanitation and healthcare

Gaza's pregnant women have also suffered badly. The IPC estimated that some 55,000 malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from acute malnutrition and will require an urgent nutrition response.

“Dietary intake is also largely inadequate among malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women, further impairing their ability to breastfeed their children,” its assessment says.

The extremely restricted access to safe drinking water, adequate hygiene and sanitation facilities has also added to Gazans' disease burden. Open defecation and people living in overcrowded conditions have increased the spread of infectious diseases as well as the risk of outbreaks.

As many as 96% of households also reported moderate to high water insecurity in July.

Hospitals too have been severely hit. As of August 13, only half of the 36 hospitals are partially functional. Not one of them is fully functional.

Therefore, coverage of vaccination and critical nutrition services programmes have dipped below global stands, exposing children and pregnant women to “heightened risk of disease, malnutrition and preventable deaths”, the IPC's report said.

As many as 43% of children are reported to have suffered from diarrhea in July, 58% had fever and 25% were affected by respiratory infections. Nearly 50% had skin infections.

Israel has rejected the report, calling it “mendacious and biased”. It alleged that the report was based on figures provided by the “jihadists of Hamas”.

Such rejection by Tel Aviv has been the norm ever since Israel attacked Gaza.

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