GAZA — A full-scale famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip, according to a damning new alert from UN-backed food security experts, who say widespread starvation, disease, and acute malnutrition are accelerating hunger-related deaths among Palestinians.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in its Tuesday alert that Gaza has reached famine thresholds for food consumption in most of the territory, and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City. These are two of the three criteria required for an official famine declaration.
“The facts are in — and they are undeniable. Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions,” said UN Secretary General António Guterres. “This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes.”
The IPC, a collaboration between UN agencies, aid organisations and governments, stopped short of officially declaring a famine, saying a full analysis will be conducted “without delay.”
But it warned that the humanitarian situation has crossed critical benchmarks, calling for an immediate ceasefire and large-scale, unimpeded aid access.
Growing Death Toll, Mounting Desperation
At least 147 malnutrition-related deaths have been reported in Gaza since the war began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, including 88 children.
In July alone, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed 63 deaths, 24 of them under the age of five.
“People are already dying of malnutrition, and the longer we wait to act, the higher the death toll will rise,” said Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP). “We need to flood Gaza with large-scale food aid, immediately and without obstruction.”
UN agencies say hospitals are overwhelmed and collapsing, with “clear signs of severe wasting” visible in most child fatalities.
The Gaza Nutrition Cluster, a coalition of UN and aid groups, has admitted over 20,000 children to clinics for acute malnutrition since April. More than 3,000 are in severe condition.
Israel Denies Starvation, Blames Hamas
Israel, which controls all entry points into Gaza, has denied allegations that it is enforcing a starvation policy.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called such claims “a lie,” blaming Hamas for the crisis and insisting Israel is facilitating aid.
“Whether there is a starvation policy? No. The contrary is right,” Saar said. He added that 5,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the past two months and cited recent “tactical pauses” and corridors to help international agencies distribute supplies.
But UN officials and residents on the ground report “barely a trickle” of aid reaching civilians.
The WFP and UNICEF estimate that Gaza needs over 3,100 truckloads of food and nutritional aid each month — a volume far from what’s currently allowed in.
Locals describe scenes of desperation. “My children are starving,” said Bakr Salah, a nurse and mother-of-two in Gaza City. “They have not eaten a single meal for two days. We keep hearing about aid, but we never see it.”
Others, like Bilal Atallah in Khan Younis, say they’ve turned to the black market for survival. “I had no choice but to buy flour from looters — $35 for one kilogram,” he said.
Aid Looting, Access Barriers
The situation is compounded by insecurity around aid convoys. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said most trucks that entered on Sunday were looted, “by desperate civilians.”
Aid officials and journalists have reported rampant black-market reselling, while Reuters and the New York Times say no evidence has been found that Hamas is systematically stealing UN aid — contradicting repeated Israeli claims.
Meanwhile, access to food has become “alarmingly erratic and extremely perilous,” the IPC warns.
At least 1,000 people seeking aid have reportedly been killed by Israeli forces since the war escalated, according to the UN.
Ceasefire the Only Path to Relief
The IPC’s latest analysis echoes the global consensus that a ceasefire is the only viable way to deliver aid at the scale needed. “None of this is possible unless there is a ceasefire,” the report reads.
The worsening famine conditions come more than nine months after Israel launched its campaign in Gaza, in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack that killed around 1,200 Israelis and resulted in the capture of 251 hostages.
Since then, more than 60,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry — many of them women and children.
The crisis may soon test international resolve. U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday issued a 10-day ultimatum to Moscow to broker a ceasefire or face sweeping sanctions, amid growing global pressure to de-escalate the war and prevent further mass civilian casualties.
