Food security group warns famine is inevitable unless Israel lifts the blockade and halts military action
A leading global food security authority has warned that the Gaza Strip faces an imminent famine unless Israel ends its ten-week blockade and military campaign. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said on Monday that nearly half a million Palestinians are already experiencing “catastrophic” hunger and risk starvation.
The IPC report, compiled by experts from over a dozen aid groups and international agencies, painted a bleak picture of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It found that 477,000 people — around 22% of Gaza’s population — are in the worst possible phase of food insecurity, while another million are in the “emergency” phase.
The report emphasised that while Gaza hasn’t officially met all three criteria for a formal famine declaration, it has already reached one: extreme hunger affecting over 20% of households. It warned that the other conditions — widespread acute malnutrition and elevated death rates — could follow soon if aid access isn’t restored.
“There is no time left,” said QU Dongyu, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. “Delays in restoring aid will cost lives. The right to food is a basic human right — and right now, we are failing to uphold it.”
Food distribution has nearly collapsed. With aid banned, communal kitchens are the last resort for many families. But they, too, are shutting down due toa lack of supplies. Outside the few kitchens that still operate, thousands wait in the heat for a meagre portion of lentils or pasta.
“We queue for hours and still walk away with nothing,” said Riham Sheikh el-Eid, standing in line at a kitchen in Khan Younis. “It is exhausting and heartbreaking.”
Israel halted all humanitarian entry into Gaza in early March after ending a two-month ceasefire. The government claims the blockade is necessary to pressure Hamas into releasing 59 remaining hostages and to prevent aid diversion. Officials insist they will only allow aid in under a new distribution system that gives Israel control over delivery.
The United Nations has refused to join that plan, arguing it would politicise humanitarian aid. “The blockade weaponises food,” said Chris Newton of the International Crisis Group. “The Israeli government is starving Gaza as part of its strategy against Hamas.”
The US is developing a separate mechanism involving private American security contractors and vetted Gaza representatives, but a launch date remains uncertain. Under the proposed system, 5,000 to 6,000 individuals would collect boxes of food for their families once every two weeks.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation worsens by the day. Most food items have disappeared from markets. What little remains is unaffordable. Farmland is either destroyed or unreachable. Fuel shortages have paralysed water distribution and hospital services.
Children are among the hardest hit. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported last week that malnutrition-related clinic visits by children have doubled since February, even as medical supplies dwindle. Aid groups say the crisis is now the worst since the war began.
Although the IPC has faced past criticism — including a 2024 famine prediction that did not materialise — experts stress that the lack of a formal famine declaration should not delay urgent intervention. “People are already starving,” Newton said. “We must act now, not wait for more deaths to meet bureaucratic criteria.”
The Gaza conflict began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped 251. Since then, over 52,000 people in Gaza have been killed or are presumed dead, according to Hamas-run health authorities. Israel claims to have killed more than 20,000 militants and accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
With no political resolution in sight, Gaza’s civilians — already battered by war — now teeter on the edge of a man-made famine. The world, UN officials warn, cannot look away.
