Famine was officially declared Friday in part of northern Gaza, includingGaza City, by the world's leading authority on hunger asIsrael vowed to raze the areaif Hamas doesn't agree to its terms. The declaration of famine by theIntegrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, comes asdeaths from starvationrise across the Palestinian enclave in a spiraling crisis under Israel's military assault and aid restrictions. Israel's 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. The IPC, an internationally-recognized system for classifying food insecurity and malnutrition, said in its report that famine had been confirmed in the Gaza Governorate — 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 — around a quarter of the enclave's population. That was projected to rise to 641,000 by the end of September. "Famine is a race against time," the IPC said. "An immediate ceasefire and end to the conflict is critical to enabling an unimpeded, large-scale humanitarian response to save lives." 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 report's findings were met with little surprise by global health authorities and humanitarian groups. "Famine warnings have been clear for months," said Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Programme. "A ceasefire is an absolute and moral imperative now," said World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "The world has waited too long, watching tragic and unnecessary deaths mount from this man-made famine." Mike Huckabee, the United States' ambassador to Israel, attacked the IPC's famine declaration before it was officially announced. "You know who IS starving? The hostages kidnapped and tortured by uncivilized Hamas savages," hesaidin a post on X early Friday. "Maybe the over fed terrorists could share some of their warehouse full they stole with hungry people especially the hostages." Israel rejected the IPC's declaration, with its foreign ministry saying it had published a "fabricated report to fit Hamas's fake campaign." It hit out at the IPC's methods, accusing it of having "twisted its own rules and ignored its own criteria." The IPC rejected Israel's accusation. 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. The IPC said that this did not mean it had altered its threshold for famine, saying it used this method in line with established standards where a lack of other data is available, as it had also done in South Sudan. This "does not represent a "lowered threshold" in IPC methodology. Instead, it demonstrates the continued application of established IPC standards," it said. Israel has repeatedly denied reports of growing starvation in Gaza, while seeking to blame any hunger in the enclave on humanitarian groups. The hunger crisis in Gaza intensified after Israel launched a blockade on March 2, in the middle of its ceasefire with Hamas, barring the entry of food and other vital supplies for more than two months. It lifted the blockade in May, but only allowed a basic amount of aid in for weeks after that. Data published by COGAT states that in the weeks since Israel lifted its blockade on May 19 until August 17, when the database was last updated, 9,165 trucks carrying aid entered the enclave, with food making up just over 95% of the supplies. That boils down to an average of around 100 trucks carrying aid per day during that time period. Prior to Israel's offensive in Gaza, around 500 trucks per day were entering the enclave, according to humanitarian groups. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Friday to open the "gates of hell" on Gaza City until Hamas agreed to Israel's conditions for ending the war, including the release of all hostages and the militant group's complete disarmament. If not, he said, the city would "become like Rafah and Beit Hanoun," areas that have been largely reduced to ruins under Israel's 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 "immediate negotiations" 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 IPC's declaration comes just over three weeks after it warned that the"worst-case scenario of famine"was already unfolding in the Palestinian enclave under Israel's deadly offensive and crippling aid restrictions — 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. The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said on Monday it had recorded three new adult deaths "due to famine and malnutrition" 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.
