World reacts as UN-backed body declares famine in Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine, and it will likely spread across the enclave, a United Nations-backed global hunger monitor has said.

On Friday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system said 514,000 people, close to a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza, are experiencing famine, with the number due to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.

This comes after 22 months of war, during which Israeli forces have destroyed infrastructure and bakeries, blocked the entry of aid into the besieged Strip, and targeted and killed desperate Palestinians seeking food.

This is the first time the IPC has recorded famine outside of Africa, and the global group has predicted that famine conditions would spread to the central and southern areas of Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month.

Here’s how global leaders and NGOs are reacting to the IPC report:

United Nations

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Gaza’s famine was a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself”.

“Famine is not only about food; it is the deliberate collapse of the systems needed for human survival,” Guterres said. “People are starving. Children are dying. And those with the duty to act are failing.”

The UN chief said Israel, as the occupying power, has “unequivocal obligations” under international law, including the duty to unsure that food and medical supplies are made available to the population of Gaza.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, has highlighted that “months of warnings have fallen on deaf ears”, but now the famine is now confirmed in Gaza City and the surrounding areas, it is “time for political will” to end it.

“We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity,” he said. “No more excuses. The time for action is not tomorrow – it is now.”

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the famine has been “openly promoted by some Israeli leaders as a weapon of war” and called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “end the retribution” and open Gaza’s crossings for unrestricted access.

Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the UN-backed declaration that famine was present in parts of Gaza.

“The IPC report is an outright lie,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office.

He added that “Israel does not have a policy of starvation”, citing the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip during the war.

The controversial Israel- and US-backed GHF took over all food aid distribution in Gaza from the UN in May. Since then, Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 2,000 aid seekers have been killed.

Hamas

Palestinian group Hamas called for an immediate end to the war and the lifting of the Israeli siege on the territory after the UN declared a famine in parts of Gaza.

In a statement published online, the group called for “immediate action by the UN and the security council to stop the war and lift the siege” and demanded that crossings be opened “without restrictions to allow the urgent and continuous entry of food, medicine, water and fuel”.

The group went on to say that the declaration by the UN has confirmed the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and accused Israel of using starvation as a “tool of war”.

Palestinian Authority

The Foreign Ministry of the PA, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank not under Israeli control, said the IPC report “closed the door to interpretation and speculation regarding the occurrence of famine”.

“It has confirmed that what is required now, before it is too late, is the mobilisation of international influence in all its forms and dimensions to immediately halt the famine and the aggression against our people,” it said in a statement on social media.

It also urged the UN Security Council and the international community “to address with utmost seriousness and concern” the contents of the report.

“This signifies that the Israeli occupation is proceeding to destroy all aspects and components of human life in the Gaza Strip and committing the crime of using starvation as a weapon in the war against Palestinian civilians.”

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia expressed concern after the IPC’s famine report and said that the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza “will remain a stain on the international community”.

The situation in Gaza “is a direct result of the absence of deterrence and accountability mechanisms for the repeated crimes of the Israeli occupation,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It urged that the UN Security Council “quickly intervene immediately to end the famine and stop the war of genocide and crimes committed by Israel against Palestine”.

Gulf Cooperation Council

Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, stressed the need for immediate action by the international community to pressure Israel to open the crossings and allow the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza without restrictions.

In a statement on Friday, Albudaiwi pointed out that the official declaration of famine in the Gaza Strip by the IPC, which has reached catastrophic levels, “clearly reflects the dangerous, inhumane, and illegal starvation policies pursued by the Israeli occupation forces against the brotherly Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip”.

United Kingdom

The UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemned the famine in Gaza as a “moral outrage” and a “man-made catastrophe”, after it was declared by the IPC.

“The confirmation of famine in Gaza City and the surrounding neighbourhood is utterly horrifying and is wholly preventable,” Lammy said in a statement.

“The Israeli government’s refusal to allow sufficient aid into Gaza has caused this man-made catastrophe. This is a moral outrage.”

Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Israel must meet the basic needs of Gaza’s civilians for food, water and medicine, following Friday’s “devastating and entirely foreseeable” IPC report.

“Under international humanitarian law, Israel, as the occupying power, must ensure that the basic needs of the civilian population in Gaza are met, using all the resources it has available,” the ICRC said in a statement, adding that the famine declaration “must serve as a catalyst for immediate and concrete action.”

Oxfam

Oxfam said the IPC’s declaration of a famine in Gaza City confirms what the charity and its partners have been witnessing for months, and has called for aid to be immediately allowed into the territory.

“The famine in Gaza is entirely driven by Israel’s near-total blockade on food and vital aid, the horrifying consequence of Israel’s violence, and its use of starvation as a weapon of war,” said Helen Stawski, policy lead at Oxfam GB, the global poverty-focused NGO’s British arm.

“Despite warnings in July that famine was imminent, Israel has continued to deprive Palestinians of food, denying almost every request from long-established humanitarian agencies, preventing them from delivering vital food and aid that could have stemmed hunger, malnutrition and disease.”

She said that Oxfam had more than $3.3m worth of aid, including high-calorie food packages, sitting in warehouses outside Gaza.

“Israeli authorities have rejected it all, at a time when it is needed more than ever,” she said.

Islamic Relief

The IPC’s confirmation of famine in Gaza “brings shame on the entire world”, said humanitarian charity Islamic Relief.

“Every day our team there sees more people starving to death and children turning into living skeletons before our eyes,” the NGO said in a statement.

“Many more will die unless the world acts now.”

Mercy Corps

The chief executive officer of the US-based aid group, Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, called the UN announcement of a famine in Gaza City “absolutely horrifying, yet not surprising”.

“This is the direct result of months of deliberate restrictions on aid, the destruction of Gaza’s food, health and water systems, and relentless bombardment. This is a man-made catastrophe, entirely preventable and entirely unconscionable,” she said.

McKenna said Mercy Corps staff were facing dire conditions.

“We’re watching our own team members waste away. They’re standing in food lines, skipping meals so their children can eat, and risking their lives daily just to find bread and water,” she noted.