The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has finally declared an official famine in Gaza City. Several other governorates in Gaza are in near-famine conditions.
The IPC, the internationally recognized authority on food security, declares that famine conditions exist when "at least 20% of households face extreme food shortages, over 30% of young children suffer from acute malnutrition, and the mortality rate reaches two deaths per 10,000 people daily due to starvation or malnutrition-related diseases," according to the UN.
The IPC report, which described the famine as "man-made," said that it can be “halted and reversed.”
“The time for debate and hesitation has passed; starvation is present and is rapidly spreading," the report said.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling the report "an outright lie."
According to the New York Times, the Israeli aid agency known as Cogat criticized the report for relying on "speculation and questionable methodology."
“The I.P.C. report is based on partial and unreliable sources,” Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, the agency’s head, said in a statement, adding that it “blatantly ignores the facts and the extensive humanitarian efforts” led by Israel.
It also ignores the United Nations' deliberate refusal to deliver food that is sitting in trucks just outside the Gaza Strip.
BREAKING: 400 humanitarian aid trucks are waiting 𝐢𝐧 Gaza for the @UN to be distributed.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 27, 2025
Don’t fall for misinformation, the IDF and @cogatonline have adjusted the logistical and security protocols. The @UN still refuse to do its job. pic.twitter.com/mkotBmWs2T
BREAKING: 950 aid trucks are waiting inside Gaza, near the border, ready to be delivered to Palestinians.
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) July 22, 2025
Israel facilitated their entry, but the UN won’t pick them up.
It’s easier to tweet all day that Israel is “starving Gaza” than to actually help Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/oiLpKccKt4
Because the aid is not being distributed through "official" UN channels and because the aid organization distributing the food (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) refuses to deal with Hamas, the United Nations is letting people starve. That's the long and short of this situation, and the United Nations knows it.
Reliable stats are hard to come by, but it appears that the famine has killed fewer than 300 Gazans since March. The IPC report suggests that the actual death toll could be significantly higher than the reported figures. In fact, that last metric that determines an "official" famine — "two deaths per 10,000 people daily" — is impossible to verify. The IPC is guessing.
Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. It says there’s currently no limit on how many aid trucks can enter Gaza. It also pushed ahead with a new U.S.-backed aid delivery system that requires Palestinians to travel long distances and pass through Israeli military lines to get aid.
The traditional, U.N.-led aid providers say deliveries have been hampered by Israeli military restrictions and incidents of looting, while criminals and hungry crowds overwhelm entering convoys.
Witnesses, health officials and the U.N. rights office say hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid from both providers, while Israel says it has only fired warning shots and that the toll is exaggerated.
All of this is not to say that the people of Gaza aren't in distress and going hungry. But the declaration of an official famine is not entirely an unbiased announcement. At bottom, it is a political determination that the IPC says should "raise awareness" among the people of Earth. You're not going to raise awareness by hemming and hawing about whether or not Gaza is experiencing a famine.
You raise awareness the same way you raise funds and attract donors: by exaggerating the bad and downplaying the good. It wouldn't contribute to the cause if IPC mentioned in its report that the UN was refusing to deliver food aid from hundreds of trucks to Gazans because it couldn't control where it was going.
Gazans were hungry before the war, and they will be hungry after the war. That children are dying as a result of the machinations of the UN with regard to aid is a travesty. That they are trying to fob off responsibility for the widespread hunger and blame it on Israel is a crime against the Jewish state.
