Tracking Gaza’s Descent into Famine

On August 22, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) announced that famine is currently occurring in Gaza, marking only the fifth such classification since the IPC was formed in 2004 and the first in the Middle East.

  1. The IPC is the global standard for assessing acute food insecurity crises. Today’s report from the IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC) follows five previous IPC assessments of Gaza and comes less than a month after the July alert confirming that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza. The FRC reflects that the committee has never “had to return so many times to the same crisis.”
  2. In March 2024, the IPC warned that famine was “imminent” in Gaza, with some international leaders describing Gaza as experiencing famine in May 2024. A temporary surge in aid from May to August 2024 offered some reprieve. A decline in aid volumes in late 2024 and Israel's blockade on humanitarian aid in March 2025 have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, leading the IPC itself to conclude that famine is currently occurring in Gaza Governate and is expected to expand to two additional governates, Deir al- Balah and Khan Younis, by the end of September. But for a lack of data, North Gaza would likely be classified under famine as well.
  3. In late May, Israel resumed some aid distribution in Gaza through the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The FRC took this into account in their latest report, noting that the food distribution operated GHF does not meet the IPC standards to be classified as humanitarian aid and has been marred by inefficiencies, insufficiencies, and insecurity. Today, as famine unfolds, and is likely to spread in the coming weeks, the IPC estimates that 132,000 children under the age of 5 will suffer from acute malnutrition through June 2026.

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Caitlin Welsh

Caitlin Welsh

Director, Global Food and Water Security Program
Jon B. Alterman

Zane Swanson

Deputy Director, Global Food and Water Security Program
Joely Virzi

Joely Virzi

Program Coordinator and Research Assistant, Global Food and Water Security Program

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