For the first time in the region, famine has been officially declared in Gaza, the United Nations confirmed on Friday, 22 August.
The UN-backed assessment, carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO), found that famine conditions are already present in Gaza City and could soon spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.
The classification is based on extreme food shortages, rising malnutrition, and deaths linked to starvation.
Children are among the most affected. In July alone, more than 12,000 were identified as acutely malnourished, the highest figure ever recorded in Gaza. Projections estimate that 43,400 children could face life-threatening malnutrition by mid-2026 if conditions do not change.
Nearly two years of conflict have severely damaged Gaza’s food systems, with the United Nations reporting that 98 percent of farmland has been destroyed.
The agencies added that current aid deliveries are falling short of urgent needs, warning that without a ceasefire and full humanitarian access, famine is likely to worsen and claim more lives.
UNICEF Director Catherine Russell warned that “babies are dying from hunger and preventable disease,” stressing that without a ceasefire and full humanitarian access, more children will die.
The declaration marks the first time famine has been recognized in the Middle East since the UN’s current classification system was introduced in 2004.
Since the beginning of the war in Gaza on 7 October 2023, more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 156,000 wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
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