Chicago – August 23, 2025
The United Nations chief has described the famine confirmed in Gaza City and its surrounding areas as a “failure of humanity”.
Antonio Gutteres said the situation was a “man-made disaster” after a UN-backed body, which identifies hunger levels around the world, raised its food insecurity status in parts of the territory to Phase 5 – the highest and most severe.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) says more than half a million people across Gaza are facing “catastrophic” conditions characterised by “starvation, destitution and death”.
The report was labelled an “outright lie” by Israel, which has denied there is starvation in the territory.
The UN says Israel is continuing to restrict the amount of aid entering Gaza, which Israel also denies.
Its denials are in direct contradiction to what more than 100 humanitarian groups, witnesses on the ground, multiple UN bodies, and several of Israel’s allies, including the UK, have said.
The IPC says that an “immediate, at-scale response” is needed or there will be an “unacceptable escalation” in famine-related deaths.
It predicts that between mid-August and the end of September, famine will expand across the strip to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.
