The United Nations says parts of Gaza are in a “21st century famine” with more than 500,000 people in the war zone facing “catastrophic conditions.”
Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu call the Gaza famine declaration by a UN-backed monitor and “outright lie.”
A new analysis by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s (IPC) says famine conditions are occurring in the Gaza Governorate of the Palestinian war zone and could expand with Israel potentially launching a new major offensive against Hamas.
A Palestinian girl drinks water from a jerrycan after collecting it from a water distribution point during a hot summer day with temperatures reaching 36 °C (97 °F) in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Abdel Kareem Hana
“Acute malnutrition is projected to continue worsening rapidly. Through June 2026, at least 132,000 children under five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition—double the IPC estimates from May 2025,” the monitoring group said.
“It is a famine in 2025. A 21st century famine watched over by drones and the most advanced military technology in history,” said UN Human Rights Chief Tom Fletcher. “It is a famine openly promoted by some Israeli leaders as a weapon of war.”
Fletcher also called the situation in Gaza “the world’s famine” with UN officials calling for ceasefire in the war which sparked after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Hamas still holds as many as 20 living hostages taken in the 2023 attacks in Gaza.
There have been more than 62,000 Palestinians and 2,000 Israelis killed in the conflict. Gaza is mostly Muslim but has a small Christian population.
Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefs the media about the hunger in the Gaza Strip, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
Salvatore Di Nolfi
Palestinian girl waits inside her car loaded with their belongings in central Gaza, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, as the Israeli military is warning Palestinians not to return to northern Gaza. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Abdel Kareem Hana
Hamas has refused to release hostages, embeds with Palestinian civilians and steals relief aid coming into Gaza.
International groups fault Israel for its curtailing of aid earlier this year, its restrictions on other aid shipments into the war zone as well as its continued bombings and strikes into Gaza.
Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly dispute the famine designation.
”The IPC report is an outright lie. Israel does not have a policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation. Since the beginning of the war Israel has enabled 2 million tons of aid to enter the Gaza Strip, over one ton of aid per person,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
“Israel, will continue to act responsibly, ensuring aid reaches Gaza’s civilians while destroying Hamas’s terror machine. The Hamas-orchestrated ‘starvation campaign’ will not deter us from freeing our hostages and eliminating Hamas.”
Israel has been critical of the UN, international groups and international media it says are biased in favor of the Palestinians in the Middle East conflict.
“The civilized world must demand two things: the immediate, unconditional release of all hostages and the truth,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Netanyahu also argues the famine claims are false, pointing to media and social media images purported to be of starving Palestinian children but that they really suffer from cerebral palsy or other conditions that give them an emaciated appearance.
“What do you do against the lie that circled the Earth 10 times before the truth has a chance to emerge? You have to shorten the war as speedily as possible,” Netanyahu said of the social media narratives critical of Israel.
“This is a big challenge.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)
Abir Sultan
Netanyahu also compared the blame Israel narratives to “the Middle Ages where Jews were accused of killing Christian children for their blood.”