Famine and Starvation Gripping Gaza, UN Warns

A severely malnourished girl in Gaza. Aid teams have repeatedly called for Israel to allow much more aid to enter Gaza to prevent the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.

“The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza,” UN-backed food security experts warned on Tuesday, issuing a call to action amid unrelenting conflict, mass displacement, and the near-total collapse of essential services in the war-battered enclave.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) platform, two out of three famine thresholds for food consumption have been breached across most of Gaza, with acute malnutrition levels in Gaza City confirming repeated warnings from aid agencies.

“Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the IPC assessment stated.

“It's clearly a disaster unfolding in front of our eyes, in front of our television screens,” said Ross Smith, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Director of Emergencies. “This is not a warning; this is a call to action. This is unlike anything we have seen in this century,” he told journalists in Geneva.

The context is stark: one in three people in Gaza is now going without food for days at a time, according to the IPC. Hospitals are overwhelmed and have treated more than 20,000 children for acute malnutrition since April. At least 16 children under five have died from hunger-related causes since mid-July.

This alert follows a May 2025 IPC analysis that projected catastrophic levels of food insecurity for the entire population by September. The platform's experts estimate that at least half a million people are expected to fall into IPC Phase 5 – catastrophe – which is marked by starvation, destitution, and death.

The crisis stems from nearly two years of conflict, sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel in October 2023, which left around 1,250 dead and 450 people taken hostage. Since then, heavy fighting has killed more than 59,500 people, according to Gaza’s health authorities, and destroyed 70 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure.

Echoing longstanding concerns for civilians, the IPC confirmed that displacement is rampant, with safe areas reduced to less than 12 per cent of the territory.

Gaza’s population of 2.1 million has been devastated, with 90 per cent displaced, many of them multiple times. Over 762,500 displacements have been recorded since the end of the ceasefire on 18 March.

Meanwhile, humanitarian access remains severely restricted, with aid convoys frequently obstructed or looted. On Sunday, Israel announced it would begin daily humanitarian pauses in Gaza. More than 100 aid trucks reportedly entered that day, but the UN insists on the need to flood Gaza with food, fuel, and medicine.

In line with international calls to end the war, the IPC also called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access, and restoration of essential services. Without urgent intervention, widespread death is imminent, the report warns.

Food security experts also appealed for the protection of civilians, humanitarian personnel, and critical infrastructure, including health, water, sanitation, roads, and telecommunications networks.