By Ephraim Agbo
On 22 August 2025 the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) — the world’s leading authority on hunger crises — officially declared famine in Gaza City and its immediate governorate. The declaration says more than 500,000 people are already living in catastrophic conditions and that famine is likely to spread to other parts of the territory unless the flow of life-saving aid is drastically scaled up and access is secured.
What the IPC decision means (quick explainer)
A formal famine classification by the IPC is rare and technical. To reach the threshold the IPC requires at least two of the following three conditions, all measured against strict statistical thresholds:
- ≥ 20% of households with an extreme lack of food (facing starvation and destitution);
- ≥ 30% of children suffering acute malnutrition;
- ≥ 2 deaths per 10,000 people per day from starvation or malnutrition-related causes.
The IPC’s analysis says those thresholds have been met in Gaza City’s governorate — an area already ravaged by months of conflict, mass displacement and the collapse of food, water and health systems. The agency warned that without immediate change the famine will spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.
The scale: facts and projections
- Current scale: The IPC and major UN agencies put the number currently in catastrophic (famine) conditions at approximately 500,000–515,000 people, concentrated in and around Gaza City.
- Projected spread: The IPC projects famine conditions could reach 640,000+ people by the end of September if access and aid remain insufficient.
- Children: Multiple UN agencies and NGOs report dramatic spikes in child malnutrition and nutrition-related deaths in recent months; admissions for severe acute malnutrition have surged and reported child deaths from malnutrition have increased.
Note: these figures are changing quickly on the ground; the IPC decision itself stresses the urgency of scaled action to prevent the totals rising further.
Why this happened: the IPC’s stated drivers
The IPC and UN officials attribute the famine to a combination of factors that together have collapsed people’s ability to feed themselves:
- Destruction of local food systems: farmland, greenhouses, bakeries and food warehouses have been damaged or are inaccessible after sustained military operations.
- Severe restrictions on aid and access: large quantities of aid are delayed, blocked or held at borders and checkpoints; trucks queue or are turned back; the operating environment for humanitarian agencies remains tightly constrained.
- Market collapse and hyper-inflation: food that does reach markets is priced far beyond what most households can pay; families are reportedly skipping days without food and relying on scavenged or inedible substitutes.
UN relief officials have described the famine as “entirely man-made” and “preventable” — pointing to obstruction of aid as a decisive factor.
The political and legal flashpoint
The famine declaration has become a major international flashpoint:
- Israeli response: Israeli officials have rejected the IPC’s findings, arguing that large volumes of aid have been allowed into Gaza and that armed groups divert supplies for their own use. They cite security concerns and the need to vet shipments.
- UN and rights bodies: UN agencies, aid organisations and humanitarian experts say the famine is the result of policy choices and access restrictions; some legal analysts warn that deliberately starving a civilian population may constitute a war crime.
The disagreement — between aggregate tonnage claims and on-the-ground reports of empty stomachs and rising child malnutrition — is at the centre of the diplomatic crisis.
Voices from Gaza (what aid workers and families say)
Field testimonies from aid workers and residents match the IPC’s data:
- Aid workers describe children with severe wasting, mothers unable to find baby formula, and families forced to skip days without food. One UNICEF-linked account describes a 7-month pregnant woman so malnourished she had come for treatment for her 1-year-old child.
- NGOs report families resorting to scavenging, eating grass or leaves, and children telling aid workers they wish to die so they could eat in the afterlife — evidence of extreme desperation.
First-person testimonies include accounts of people displaced repeatedly (some families reporting 10–13 displacements), carers queuing for water trucks daily, and market prices rising to multiples of their pre-conflict levels.
Who’s right about aid volumes?
Two distinct issues shape the debate about aid:
- Raw tonnes vs. distribution: Authorities may point to aggregate tonnage moved through crossings. But aid agencies stress that tonnes alone are insufficient: aid must be delivered safely, quickly and through channels that reach the most vulnerable — and those channels have been constrained.
- Logistics and diversion: Even when trucks cross the border, there are repeated reports of delays, diversion and looting. Long delays leave supplies stuck on the road or in warehouses, reducing the effective aid reaching starving households.
Conclusion: a headline number for tonnage does not prove that the right items are reaching the right people in time.
Health, mortality and the children at risk
Health agencies report rising malnutrition rates and nutrition-related deaths:
- Admissions for severe acute malnutrition have increased sharply at treatment centres across Gaza.
- Reported child deaths connected to malnutrition have risen; agencies repeatedly warn that children are the most vulnerable and that long-term developmental damage is likely even if immediate starvation is averted.
The human toll is more than statistics: carers describe children who cry from hunger until they are too weak to cry, infants lacking formula, and babies born to mothers who are themselves severely malnourished.
What would reverse this (practical steps)
Humanitarians and the IPC call for an immediate package of measures. They are straightforward in principle but politically difficult in practice:
- Immediate, credible ceasefire to halt destructive operations and enable safe distribution.
- Unhindered, UN-led humanitarian access with impartial agencies allowed to import, store and distribute at scale to all governorates.
- Rapid scale-up of food, water, medicine and fuel to treatment centres and hospitals (nutrition treatment must be a priority).
- Safe humanitarian corridors and civilian protection so people can reach aid without deadly risk.
The IPC’s message: this famine is preventable and reversible — but only if the international community acts now and at scale.
Legal and moral implications
Because famine can be caused or exacerbated by deliberate policy (for example by blocking aid or food), there is an international law dimension. Legal scholars and human-rights bodies may examine whether actions amount to using starvation as a method of warfare — a practice prohibited under international humanitarian law. The IPC declaration has sharpened those legal and political questions for courts, parliaments and global institutions.
How you can respond (practical options)
If you run a blog or an organisation, consider the following actions:
- Amplify verified reporting from UN agencies and independent NGOs (UNICEF, WHO, WFP, Save the Children, IPC briefings).
- Urge elected officials to press for a time-bound, monitored ceasefire and to support humanitarian corridors.
- Donate to reputable humanitarian agencies still operating in Gaza (verify agency channels and transparency pages).
- Share this post or verified first-person testimonies and translations to keep attention on human stories rather than only numbers.
Bottom line
The IPC’s famine declaration is both a technical, data-driven judgment and a moral alarm bell: this is a man-made catastrophe that can be halted — if political actors allow it. The clock is running. Immediate, large-scale, impartial humanitarian access and a cessation of hostilities are the necessary and shortest path to prevent more deaths and irreversible damage to a generation of children.
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