A global hunger monitor declared on Friday for the first time that famine has struck the densely populated northern Gaza Strip.
According to the IPC report, an estimated 514,000 — or nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population — are experiencing famine, and that number is expected to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.
Some 280,000 of those people are in a northern region covering Gaza City — known as Gaza governorate — which the IPC said is in famine, its first such determination in the enclave.
The rest are in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, central and southern areas that the IPC projects will be in famine by the end of next month.
The IPC said hunger has been driven by fighting and the blockade of aid, and magnified by widespread displacement and the collapse of food production in Gaza, pushing hunger to life-threatening levels across the entire territory after 22 months of war.
More than half a million people in Gaza, about a quarter of the population, face catastrophic levels of hunger, and many are at risk of dying from malnutrition-related causes, the IPC report said.
Famine declared by IPC in #Gaza Governorate is a direct result of actions by #Israel‘s Government that has unlawfully restricted entry & distribution of humanitarian aid.
It is a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare, and the resulting deaths may also amount to a… pic.twitter.com/knqnRpe2yH
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) August 22, 2025
Last month, the IPC said the “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza, but stopped short of an official determination.
For a region to be classified as in a famine, at least 20 percent of people must be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease.
“Entirely Man-Made” Famine
Meanwhile, the IPC’s Famine Review Committee said the famine in Gaza is “entirely man-made” and can be “halted and reversed,” adding that 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 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed global hunger monitor, has officially declared a famine in Gaza City.
The famine is “entirely man-made”, caused by Israeli siege of Gaza, bombardment of shelters and bakeries, and blocked humanitarian access. pic.twitter.com/EpSv3pnScS
— Alexandra Halaby 🇵🇸 (@iskandrah) August 22, 2025
The report went 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.
Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar)
