The leading global authority on food crises says the Gaza Strip has entered what it calls a “worst-case scenario of famine,” predicting widespread death unless immediate action is taken. The latest alert from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) stops short of a formal famine declaration but warns that key thresholds, such as severe child malnutrition and widespread food deprivation, are already being met.
Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years, but experts say conditions have sharply deteriorated amid tighter Israeli blockades, widespread displacement, and the collapse of essential services. The IPC reports that one in three people now goes days without food, and hospitals have documented a surge in child hunger deaths.
Though Israel insists it has allowed adequate aid, global health and hunger experts strongly dispute this claim. For context: over 60,000 people in Gaza are now estimated to have died, roughly equal to the entire populations of Burlington, Fort Madison, and Galesburg combined.
