Famine was officially declared Friday in part of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, by the worldâs leading authority on hunger as Israel vowed to raze the area if Hamas doesnât agree to its terms.
The declaration of famine by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, comes as deaths from starvation rise across the Palestinian enclave in a spiraling crisis under Israelâs military assault and aid restrictions.
Israelâs military is preparing to push ahead with a new operation to seize Gaza City that could displace hundreds of thousands of people and worsen the dire situation there. It has launched intense strikes on the city this week after announcing it had begun the first stage of its planned assault.
Famine declared
The IPC, an internationally-recognized system for classifying food insecurity and malnutrition, said in its report Friday morning that famine had been confirmed in the Gaza Governorate â and that it was projected to expand to the Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis Governorates further south by the end of September if the humanitarian situation does not change.
The number of people now experiencing famine in Gaza was nearly 514,000, the IPC said â around a quarter of the enclaveâs population. That was projected to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.
âFamine is a race against time,â the IPC said. âAn immediate ceasefire and end to the conflict is critical to enabling an unimpeded, large-scale humanitarian response to save lives.â
The United Nations-backed body had up until now only declared famine on four other occasions since it was first established in 2004, most recently in Sudan last year.
The reportâs findings were met with little surprise by global health authorities and humanitarian groups.
âFamine warnings have been clear for months,â said Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Programme.
âA ceasefire is an absolute and moral imperative now,â said World Health Organization Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. âThe world has waited too long, watching tragic and unnecessary deaths mount from this man-made famine.â
Mike Huckabee, the United Statesâ ambassador to Israel, attacked the IPCâs famine declaration before it was officially announced.
âYou know who IS starving? The hostages kidnapped and tortured by uncivilized Hamas savages,â he said in a post on X early Friday. âMaybe the over fed terrorists could share some of their warehouse full they stole with hungry people especially the hostages.â
Israel rejected the IPCâs declaration on Friday, with its foreign ministry saying it had published a âfabricated report to fit Hamasâs fake campaign.â It hit out at the IPCâs methods.
Famine, the highest phase of the IPC Acute Food Insecurity scale is classified when an area has at least 20% of households facing an extreme lack of food; at least 30% of children suffering from acute malnutrition and at least two people or four children out of every 10,000 people are dying each day from starvation.
But the bar can also be met if 15% of children are considered to be suffering from acute malnutrition based on mid-upper arm circumference with evidence of rapidly worsening underlying drivers, according to the IPC, which cited the latter practice in its report.
Israel has repeatedly denied reports of growing starvation in Gaza, while seeking to blame any hunger in the enclave on humanitarian groups for failing to distribute enough aid.
Israel threatens âgates of hellâ on Gaza City
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Friday to open the âgates of hellâ on Gaza City until Hamas agreed to Israelâs conditions for ending the war, including the release of all hostages and the militant groupâs complete disarmament.

If not, he said, the city would âbecome like Rafah and Beit Hanoun,â areas that have been largely reduced to ruins under Israelâs 22-month offensive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a day earlier that he had authorized the operation to take over Gaza City, while also revealing he had instructed âimmediate negotiationsâ to begin for a deal to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of the hostages who remain held in the enclave.
The video statement followed days of silence after Hamas announced it had accepted a ceasefire proposal put forward by Arab mediators.
The IPCâs declaration comes just over three weeks after it warned that the âworst-case scenario of famineâ was already unfolding in the Palestinian enclave under Israelâs deadly offensive and crippling aid restrictions â but it had emphasized the alert was not a formal famine classification.

Aid groups have repeatedly warned in recent weeks there is still not enough food entering Gaza to stave off famine.
Meanwhile, deaths from starvation in Gaza have continued to rise.
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said on Monday it had recorded three new adult deaths âdue to famine and malnutritionâ within a 24-hour period, bringing the total death toll from starvation to 266 people, including 112 children.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.
Since then, more than 62,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to the local Palestinian health ministry, with much of the territory destroyed.
Among the dead are hundreds of people who have been killed while trying to seek aid following the introduction of a new distribution system led by the Israel and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

