Famine looms large in Gaza: UN-backed report confirms crisis at tipping point
ROME, Italy (MNTV) – The Gaza Strip is edging perilously close to full-scale famine, according to a grim new assessment by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
In its latest report released Tuesday, the IPC warns that the “worst-case scenario of famine” is now unfolding in Gaza due to the Israeli-imposed blockade, ongoing conflict, and total collapse of public services.
The IPC report shows that famine thresholds for food consumption have been reached in most of Gaza, with Gaza City seeing particularly catastrophic levels of acute malnutrition. In IPC terms, this puts parts of the region in Phase 5: Catastrophe/Famine, the most severe level of food insecurity.
Among the 2.2 million residents of Gaza, an estimated 495,000 people—over 22% of the population—are now experiencing the most extreme form of hunger. The report notes that “people are exhausting all remaining resources just to survive,” with many subsisting on animal feed, wild plants, or nothing at all.
The IPC attributes this spiraling emergency to five interlinked causes: continued military operations, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, economic collapse, and the breakdown of health, water, and sanitation services.
The near-total destruction of Gaza’s agricultural and food supply systems, along with bombardment of bakeries and markets, has made meaningful recovery almost impossible.
The health sector, already overwhelmed, is failing to manage the crisis. Hospitals are inundated with malnourished children and pregnant women, with doctors reporting severe shortages of therapeutic food, medicine, and even clean water.
Children are the most affected. The IPC data indicates that over 30% of children under five are now acutely malnourished in some areas—a figure well above the emergency threshold. If current conditions persist, the report warns of an irreversible deterioration in child development, with a growing risk of death from preventable causes.
The IPC urges immediate, large-scale humanitarian access to all of Gaza, emphasizing that “only a cessation of hostilities and full access to food, health services, water and sanitation can reverse the trajectory.” The report makes clear that, without urgent intervention, famine could become widespread and persistent in the coming weeks.
The IPC’s findings are based on assessments conducted in partnership with UN agencies including the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and UNICEF.
International Implications
The findings intensify pressure on Israel and the international community to act. Multiple humanitarian agencies have accused Israel of using starvation as a method of warfare—a potential war crime under international law.
Despite global outrage, humanitarian corridors remain largely non-functional, and aid delivery is often obstructed or delayed at border crossings.
The Gaza crisis has now entered a phase that experts describe as “unprecedented in scale and speed,” with half the population already in “emergency” or “catastrophe” levels of hunger.
As the humanitarian clock ticks down, the IPC warns that Gaza’s future hangs in the balance—and so too does the credibility of the global community’s commitment to preventing famine.
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