Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

After 22 months of war in which Israel has blocked the majority of food and aid entering Gaza, the starvation crisis has reached the point of famine, as confirmed by the IPC back in August. Gaza City and its surrounding region has crossed every threshold for famine: extreme food shortages, skyrocketing child malnutrition, and rising deaths linked to starvation. More than half a million people are now trapped in famine conditions, with millions more at risk as aid convoys are blocked or delayed at border crossings.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, a globally recognized organization backed by the United Nations, predicts that conditions are expected to escalate in the coming weeks with the famine expanding to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis in the center and south of Gaza. 

This is a man-made disaster. Bombed infrastructure, a lack of clean water, and fuel shortages have left aid agencies struggling to deliver food while children bear the brunt. “Through June 2026, at least 132,000 children under five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition—double the IPC estimates from May 2025. This includes over 41,000 severe cases of children at heightened risk of death. Nearly 55,500 malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women will also require urgent nutrition response,” according to the IPC.

The Israeli officials in charge of providing aid to the region have rejected the report’s findings, calling them “false and biased.” The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees confirmed that there was three months’ worth of food for the entire population of Gaza stockpiled in warehouses that they are unable to transfer into the region as Israel allows miniscule amounts of aid in and their forces continue to kill Palestinians trying to access that aid.