UN Report Confirms Famine in Gaza, with 132,000 Children at Risk and Increasing Tensions Over Aid Distribution

The United Nations-supported initiative has declared parts of Gaza as experiencing famine, with expectations of further expansion. This development comes after almost two years of conflict during which Israel occasionally restricted or halted humanitarian aid access to the war-torn enclave.

Tragically, some individuals have succumbed to starvation and hunger, while others have been fatally injured attempting to collect aid at distribution sites managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial organization funded by the US and Israel that replaced a long-criticized UN system.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report states that famine has been verified in the Gaza Governorate, which encompasses Gaza City, a region targeted by recent Israeli military operations.

According to the report, malnutrition poses a grave threat to 132,000 children under five years old until June 2026, with 41,000 cases classified as severe – a figure that has more than doubled from May’s count.

The Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), responsible for distributing aid to Gaza, dismissed the IPC report before its release, asserting that it relies on biased data and shallow information sourced from Hamas.

COGAT argued that the IPC’s one-sided approach fails to acknowledge the extensive humanitarian efforts being made in Gaza, and contended that the report overlooked data provided to its authors by Israel.