UN declares famine in Gaza, Israel slams ‘outright lie’
The UN on Friday officially declared a famine in Gaza, the first time it has done so in the Middle East, with experts warning 500,000 people face "catastrophic" hunger. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the report as an "outright lie" and said it ignored Israel's latest humanitarian steps. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
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Gaza City resident reacts to UN famine declaration, fears of Israeli offensive
The UN declaration of famine in Gaza is a welcome, but long overdue step that has cost lives, says Imad Almadhoun, a former English teacher who now works for Drops of Mercy, a local charity in the besieged Palestinian territory.
In an interview with FRANCE 24’s Observers team from Gaza City, Almadhoun said the UN was “right to finally declare famine in Gaza – but it comes far too late. For months, families here have been starving, children collapsing, and hospitals overwhelmed".
The delay, he said, “cost lives. Without the formal famine label, there was less pressure for ceasefires, aid access, and accountability. Truth was spoken, but action was stalled.
“For us on the ground, it’s a damning confirmation, not breaking news. While institutions debated wording, people in Gaza kept dying of hunger,” he added.
Here’s some of Almadhoun’s testimony, which has been edited for brevity.
"Even when limited aid has entered Gaza, it has often not reached the people who need it most. Desperate crowds gather around the few trucks that manage to come in, and with no safe distribution system, the aid is frequently looted before it reaches families in shelters or camps. For the elderly, disabled, or mothers with children, it is impossible to push through these dangerous scenes.
"On top of that, the GHF [Gaza Humanitarian Fund] distribution centres have become death traps. People are shot almost daily either while lining up at these centres or rushing towards the aid trucks. Many who go simply never return home.”
When asked about the situation in Gaza City and whether he was afraid of Israel’s upcoming major military offensive, Almadhoun replied:
“Of course we are afraid. But fear has been our companion since the first week of the war, when we were forcibly evacuated from our homes.
"Now we are in Gaza City, with over a million other residents crowded into an area that has no space left to absorb more people. When evacuation orders are given, they come suddenly – there is no time to take belongings, only to grab your children and run.
“Yet despite all of this, our Drops of Mercy team continues working. We will keep serving our people until the very last moment – because this is our community, and we cannot abandon it.”
Netanyahu calls UN's Gaza famine report 'an outright lie'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the UN's Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) report on famine in Gaza.
"The IPC report is an outright lie. Israel does not have a policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation. Since the beginning of the war Israel has enabled 2 million tons of aid to enter the Gaza Strip, over one ton of aid per person," Netanyahu said in a statement.
The report 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.
'Gates of hell' will open on Hamas, warns Israeli defence minister
Israel’s defence minister has warned that Gaza City will be destroyed unless Hamas yields to Israel’s terms and release all the hostages after disarming.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said Gaza's largest city could “turn into Rafah and Beit Hanoun", areas largely reduced to rubble earlier in the war.
“The gates of hell will soon open on the heads of Hamas’ murderers and rapists in Gaza — until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war,” Katz wrote in a post on X.
He restated Israel’s ceasefire demands: the release of all hostages and Hamas’ complete disarmament. Hamas has said it would release captives in exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarmament without the creation of a Palestinian state.
Hamas calls on UN to lift Israeli siege and stop Gaza war
Hamas has called for the lifting of the Israeli siege and an end to the Gaza war after the UN officially declared a famine in parts of the besieged Palestinian territory.
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 statement noted that the declaration by the UN confirmed the "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza and accused Israel of using starvation as a "tool of war".
"We in the Hamas movement emphasise the importance of this UN declaration, even though it comes far too late – after long months of warnings and suffering endured by our people under systematic siege and starvation," the group said.
"The international community and all its institutions bear an urgent legal and moral responsibility to stop the crimes against humanity and save more than two million people facing genocide, starvation and systematic destruction of all aspects of life."
In photos: Palestinians evacuate neighbourhood of Gaza City
Palestinians flee with their belongings the Abu Iskandar neighbourhood of northern Gaza City on August 22, 2025. (Bashar Taleb, AFP)
Israel says IPC famine findings in Gaza are based on 'Hamas lies'
FRANCE 24's Noga Tarnopolsky reports from Jerusalem.
German government calls recognition of Palestinian state 'counterproductive'
A German government spokesman said that Berlin has currently no plans to recognise a Palestinian state because that would undermine any efforts to reach a negotiated two-state solution with Israel.
"A negotiated two-state solution remains our goal, even if it seems a long way off today ... The recognition of Palestine is more likely to come at the end of such a process and such decisions would now be rather counterproductive," the spokesperson said during a press conference.
Countries including Australia, United Kingdom, France and Canada have recently said they would recognise a Palestinian state under different conditions.
Western powers denounce Israel’s settlement plan dividing future Palestinian state
Twenty-one countries, including France and Britain, on Thursday issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s planned expansion in the West Bank as unacceptable and a violation of international law.
The proposed settlement of about 3,400 homes, known as E1, would divide the West Bank and further undermine the possibility of a two-state solution.
Western powers denounce Israel’s settlement plan dividing future Palestinian state
Twenty-one countries, including France and Britain, on Thursday issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s planned expansion in the West Bank as unacceptable and a violation of international law.
The proposed settlement of about 3,400 homes, known as E1, would divide the West Bank and further undermine the possibility of a two-state solution.
Netanyahu pushes ahead with Gaza takeover
Israel continued its planned takeover of Gaza City, with explosions heard over the city on Thursday night, and Israeli tanks positioned at the border.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a full military takeover was “imminent”, undermining hopes for a ceasefire deal proposed by Arab nations and accepted by Hamas earlier this week.
In photos: Gazans queue for food in Khan Younis
Palestinians wait to receive food at a charity kitchen in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 21, 2025. (AFP)
Deaths from starvation in Gaza may amount to war crime, UN rights chief says
UN rights chief Volker Türk said "it is a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare", minutes after famine was declared in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
Türk said the resulting deaths "may also amount to the war crime of wilful killing", while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "we cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity."
Guterres also called for "an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, and full, unfettered humanitarian access".
How does the IPC define famine?
The IPC was first set up in 2004 during the famine in Somalia. It includes more than a dozen UN agencies, aid groups, governments and other bodies. It says a famine exists in an area when all three of the following conditions are confirmed:
- At least 20 percent of households have an extreme lack of food, or are essentially starving.
- At least 30 percent of children six months to 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning they’re too thin for their height.
- At least two people, or four children under 5, per 10,000 are dying daily due to starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.
In Gaza, Israel’s offensive and its restrictions have made collecting data difficult but data analysed by the IPC between July 1 and August 15 showed clear evidence that thresholds for starvation and acute malnutrition have been reached.
Gathering data for mortality has been harder, but the IPC said it is reasonable to conclude from the evidence that the necessary threshold has likely been reached.
FRANCE 24's Kethevane Gorjestani explains more in the video below.
Gaza famine 'must haunt us all', UN aid chief says
The famine in Gaza should "haunt us all" and was entirely preventable had United Nations not been systematically prevented from bringing in food, the UN aid chief said Friday.
"It is a famine that we could have prevented if we had been allowed. Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel," Tom Fletcher told reporters in Geneva, calling it "a famine that will and must haunt us all".
Famine in Gaza City is 'direct result' of Israel's actions, UN human rights chief says
"The famine declared today in Gaza Governorate by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli Government," said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk, following the release of a report officially declaring famine in the Palestinian enclave.
"It has unlawfully restricted the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance and other goods necessary for the survival of the civilian population in the Gaza strip," Türk said.
"We have already seen deaths from starvation and malnutrition across the strip. The Israeli military has destroyed critical civilian infrastructure and almost all agricultural land, banned fishing, and forcibly displaced the population – all drivers of this famine," he added.
Israeli foreign ministry rejects IPC report, says 'no famine in Gaza'
The Israeli foreign ministry on Friday categorically rejected the findings of a UN-backed food security report, saying there was no famine in Gaza and that the findings were based on "Hamas lies".
"There is no famine in Gaza," said the ministry in a statement, saying the report was "based on Hamas lies laundered through organisations with vested interests".
UN-backed group officially declares famine in Gaza
Famine has struck an area of Gaza and will likely spread over the next month, a global hunger monitor determined on Friday, an assessment that will escalate pressure on Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into the war-torn Palestinian enclave.
The famine in Gaza is the first ever declared in the Middle East.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system said 514,000 people – nearly a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza – are experiencing famine and that was due to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.
Some 280,000 of those people are in a northern region covering Gaza City – known as Gaza governorate – which the IPC said was in famine, its first such determination in the enclave.
The rest are in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis – central and southern areas that the IPC projected would be in famine by the end of next month.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)