The nightmare scenario long feared by aid agencies has now materialized, said Rein Paulsen, director of emergency response at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“The worst-case scenario of famine is now occurring,” Paulsen told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.
Paulsen said the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis was carried out by 50 experts from 19 organizations, using multiple streams of data.
“Currently, famine IPC Phase 5 exists in Gaza Governorate, and across the Gaza Strip as a whole, over half a million people are facing catastrophic conditions. And another just over one million people, some 54 percent of the population, are facing what’s classified as Emergency Phase 4,” he added.
The announcement came as officials released a major report, warning that children are bearing the brunt of the crisis.
“The signs were unmistakable,” said Samir Elhawary, UNICEF’s deputy director of emergency action. “Children with wasted bodies, too weak to cry or to eat, babies dying of hunger and preventable decease, and parents arriving at clinics without enough food to feed their children.”
Israeli officials have repeatedly dismissed claims of famine, questioning the reliability of data coming from Hamas-run organizations in Gaza, but UN agencies defended the reliability of their findings.
“Some of this is through interviews conducted using a mechanism called CATI,” Paulsen explained responding to questions from a Rudaw journalist. “Some of this is coming from assessments on the ground, physically measuring the circumference of upper arms of malnourished children.”
Elhawary told Rudaw that UNICEF staff and partners screen children in “170 nutrition points” across Gaza, providing direct evidence of malnutrition rates.
Israel has only allowed limited airdrops of food and medical supplies into the territory, but UN officials say these efforts are insufficient to meet overwhelming needs. In recent weeks, Israel has threatened to occupy Gaza.
Truckloads of aid remain stalled at border crossings. UN officials say safety conditions must be established on the ground for them to move aid at scale, noting that only direct deliveries of convoys into Gaza could prevent a deeper catastrophe.
As temperatures rise and food sits idle just outside the enclave, officials issued an urgent plea: without immediate access, they warned, time will run out for Gaza’s most vulnerable.
