Overview

• UN-backed IPC confirms famine in Gaza governorate, estimating 514,000 people in famine now and projecting about 641,000 by the end of September.
• The IPC warns conditions are likely to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, noting Gaza’s food system collapse and severe malnutrition among children.
• Israel rejects the IPC finding as biased and based on partial Hamas data, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it an “outright lie” and COGAT citing recent aid deliveries.
• The declaration marks the first famine the IPC has recorded outside Africa and follows months of constrained aid access, deadly distribution bottlenecks, and rising hunger deaths reported by Gaza’s health ministry and referenced by WHO.
• Israeli leaders have approved plans for a major operation to seize Gaza City, with Defense Minister Israel Katz issuing stark threats, as aid agencies warn a new push could worsen starvation and mass displacement.