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A MAN-MADE famine has been formally declared in Gaza for the first time.
The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the world’s leading system for measuring hunger, confirmed this morning that famine is taking place in the Gaza Governorate, which includes Gaza City, surrounding towns and several refugee camps, home to around 500,000 people.
It is the first famine officially declared in the Middle East since the IPC was created in 2004, and only the fifth worldwide in its history.
The IPC said in a previous report that the famine is “entirely man-made”, and as such “can be halted and reversed”.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus similarly labelled the crisis a “man-made famine”, comments echoed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who called it a “man-made disaster”.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Israel now has “an absolute obligation to allow the people there unfettered and urgent access to humanitarian aid, medical and food supplies”.
“The withholding of food and water from civilians is collective punishment of the people of Gaza, and a war crime,” he said in a statement.
“The retention of hostages by Hamas is also a war crime, and it is long past time for their unconditional release and an end to this war.”
The IPC said all three thresholds for famine had been met: at least 20 per cent of households facing extreme food shortages, at least 30 per cent of children suffering acute malnutrition, and two people per 10,000 dying each day from starvation.
Israel continues to deny access into Gaza for many humanitarian deliveries, and disputes reports of widespread starvation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that “there is no starvation in Gaza”, arguing that if Israel had pursued a starvation policy “no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war”.
Israel also continues to carry out assaults in the region. Israeli military data has found that the vast majority of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza are civilians, according to an investigation by The Guardian and +972 Magazine.
“After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions, characterised by starvation, destitution and death,” the IPC briefing said.
It warned that famine conditions are likely to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September if current trends continue.
In a joint statement, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organization said famine must be “stopped at all costs”, urging an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded access for large-scale aid.
The agencies warned of “widespread starvation, destitution and preventable deaths”, saying hundreds of thousands are going days without food.
The IPC projects almost a third of Gaza’s population (nearly 641,000 people) will face catastrophic hunger within weeks, while another 1.14 million will experience emergency levels of food insecurity.
“The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading,” the IPC said.
“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay – even by days – will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of Famine-related mortality.”
Gaza’s health ministry said this week that at least 271 people, including 112 children, have died from starvation since the war began, with more than half of those deaths occurring in the past three weeks.
Experts say such deaths typically accelerate as a hunger crisis deepens, particularly among children and the elderly.
Humanitarian organisations including Save the Children, Oxfam and Unicef, all IPC partners, have warned that unless safe and consistent aid access is secured, famine will spread rapidly.
WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described a ceasefire as “a moral imperative”, warning that Gaza’s health system is collapsing under the strain of hunger and disease.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said famine was now “a grim reality” for children in Gaza City, with many “too weak to cry or eat”.
A number of Irish aid groups similarly condemned the famine.
UNICEF Ireland Executive Director, Peter Power, said that the famine declaration “is the devastating confirmation of our worst fears.”
“Our specialists in Gaza have been warning for months that children were dying of starvation. Since April, the number of children dying from severe malnutrition has continued to rise sharply, underscoring the urgent scale of this crisis,” Power said.
“Every child has the right to life, nutrition, and protection from harm. These rights are being violated at an unprecedented scale.
Children must be protected — not killed, and not left to starve.
UNICEF has said it has baby formula stocks for only 2,500 infants for one month, despite an estimated 10,000 in need.
ActionAid Ireland CEO, Karol Balfe, said that the ongoing forced mass displacement in Gaza, paired with famine and weaponised aid, “amounts to collective punishment for the people of Gaza”.
“Aid drops are a distraction; the humanitarian situation is a death trap, and Gaza has become hell on earth,” Balfe said.
“Under international humanitarian law, the deliberate starvation of civilians as a method of warfare constitutes a war crime.”
Oxfam Ireland CEO Jim Clarken called for immediate government action.
“Ireland understands the aching pain of famine. We know what it means when food is weaponised, when a population is deliberately starved,” Clarken said.
“The echoes of our own history – of colonialism, displacement, and genocide – are chillingly familiar in Gaza today. This is a man-made famine, driven by policy choices and military strategy, not by drought or crop failure.”
The famine declaration comes as Israeli forces push into Gaza City.
Netanyahu told troops yesterday that his cabinet had approved plans for a “massive assault” on the city, even as he pledged to continue negotiations for the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas.
Israel has called up 60,000 reservists ahead of the operation, and Palestinians have been fleeing the city following days of heavy bombardment.
At least 62,192 Palestinians have died as a result of the conflict since October 2023, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
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