Gaza no longer has famine but situation remains critical, says global hunger monitor

UNITED NATIONS – There is no longer famine in Gaza, a global hunger monitor said on Dec 19 after access for humanitarian and commercial food deliveries improved following a fragile Oct 10 ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The latest assessment by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) comes four months after it said 514,000 people – nearly a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza – were experiencing famine. It warned on Dec 19 that the situation in the enclave remained critical. 

“Under a worst-case scenario, which would include renewed hostilities and a halt in humanitarian and ‍commercial inflows, the ​entire Gaza Strip is at risk of famine through mid-April 2026. This underscores the severe and ongoing humanitarian crisis,” IPC said in the report.

Israel controls all access to ‍Gaza. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, in August disputed that there was famine in Gaza. COGAT says 600 to 800 trucks have entered Gaza daily since the start of the truce in October and that food made up 70 per cent of all those supplies.

Hamas disputes those figures, saying far fewer than 600 trucks ​a day have made it ​into Gaza. Aid agencies have repeatedly said far more aid needs to get into Gaza and have said Israel is blocking needed items from entering, which Israel denies.

No famine, but still catastrophic conditions

IPC said five famines have been confirmed in the past 15 years: in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, Sudan in 2024, and most recently in Gaza in August.

For a region to be classified as in famine, at least 20 per cent of people must be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three ‍children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease.

“No areas are classified in famine,” IPC said of Gaza on Dec 19. “The situation remains highly fragile and is contingent on sustained, expanded, and consistent humanitarian and ​commercial access.”

Even if a region has not been classified as in famine because those thresholds have not been met, ⁠IPC can determine that households are suffering catastrophic conditions, which it describes as an extreme lack of food, starvation and significantly increased risks of acute malnutrition and death.

IPC said on Dec 19 that more than 100,000 people in Gaza were experiencing catastrophic conditions, but projected that figure to decline to around 1,900 people by April 2026. It said the entire Gaza Strip was classified in an emergency phase, one step below catastrophic conditions. 

“Over the next 12 months, across the entire Gaza Strip, nearly 101,000 children aged six months to 59 months are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition and require treatment, with more than 31,000 severe cases," IPC said.

“During the same period, ​37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women will also face acute malnutrition and require treatment,” it said.

Malnourished children

In Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, doctors fear for Arjwan al-Dahini, age four, and Yasser Arafat, six. Both children are critically ill with severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous stage of hunger, said Dr Ahmed al-Farra.

Arjwan's mother, Ms Hanin, ‌said her child had not been sick before the war when she walked and played with her brothers. As ​the family struggled to find food, Arjwan stopped walking and growing and has lost around half her body weight, Ms Hanin said.

“My husband’s arm was amputated and we have no income or anyone to provide for us. How am I supposed to provide for Arjwan and buy her food? I can barely manage to get by,” she said.

Yasser’s brother already died of malnutrition, said Dr al-Farra, the doctor, and his father is unwell and malnourished too. His mother, Iman, said the family had been unable to buy eggs or other high-protein foods. “He doesn’t run around like other children do. His height remains the same. He’s short,” she said.

Al-Shifa Hospital head Mohammed Abu Selmia said medics had noticed an improvement but that malnutrition was still very widespread. Of 6,000 children screened by the Health Ministry, around 1,000 were malnourished and 100 of them required hospitalisation, he said.

“Malnutrition continues to affect children, pregnant women and the elderly,” he said, pointing to a lack of affordable foodstuffs rich in protein and fats. Many babies are born in poor health in Gaza, he said, causing long-term worries about their future.

Aid challenges remain

Mr Antoine Renard, the top United Nations World ‍Food Programme official in Gaza and the West Bank, said there were signs of improvement in the dire hunger situation in Gaza.

“The fact that most of the population is having two meals per day is actually a clear sign that we ​are actually having a bit of reversal,” he told reporters on Dec 18. 

However, he said it was “a constant struggle” to get streamlined access to Gaza at scale and speed with humanitarian and commercial trucks facing congestion at the border crossings. 

The United Nations and aid groups also warned on Dec 17 that humanitarian operations in Gaza were ​at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a “vague, arbitrary, and highly politicised” registration process. 

The International Rescue Committee’s Ms Zoe Daniels said high food prices meant it was ‌hard for many people in Gaza to obtain enough high-quality food even when it was available in the market, while Ms Jolien Veldwijk of CARE said the situation in Gaza had not improved as much as it should have. 

“People are relying on canned food that is pre-cooked or community kitchens, and they don’t hold the nutritional value that is needed for people to recover from malnutrition,” Ms Veldwijk said. REUTERS