The United Nations officially declared a famine in the Gaza Governorate (specifically Gaza City and surrounding areas) on August 22, 2025. This marked the first time a famine was officially confirmed in the Middle East region since the inception of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system.
As of March 2026, the status of the famine has shifted due to a ceasefire that began in late 2025, though the humanitarian situation remains extremely fragile.
The IPC—the global authority for monitoring hunger—confirmed that three critical thresholds for famine (IPC Phase 5) were breached in the north:
Food Deprivation: 20% of households faced an extreme lack of food.
Acute Malnutrition: Over 30% of children were acutely malnourished.
Mortality: At least two people per 10,000 were dying daily from starvation or related diseases.
UN officials, including Secretary-General António Guterres, described the crisis as a "man-made disaster" caused by systematic obstructions to aid, the destruction of agricultural land, and the collapse of the local health system.
Following a ceasefire declared in October 2025 and an increase in humanitarian and commercial aid, the UN reported a slight improvement:
Famine "Pushed Back": In late December 2025, the UN stated that while famine conditions had been "alleviated" or pushed back in most areas, the risk of it returning remains "perilously high."
Continued Hunger: As of March 2026, approximately 1.6 million people (77% of the population) are still facing "Crisis" levels of food insecurity (Phase 3) or worse.
Malnutrition Crisis: Despite more food reaching markets, extreme inflation and lack of clean water mean that roughly 100,000 children and 37,000 pregnant women are still projected to suffer from acute malnutrition through April 2026.
