KEY POINTS
- Israel vows to open “gates of hell” on besieged Gaza City
- Experts at the Rome-based IPC officially declared the famine in Gaza
- Famine affected 500,000 people in the Gaza governorate
GAZA CITY, Palestine: The United Nations on Friday officially declared a famine in Gaza, blaming Israel for the “systematic obstruction of aid”, hours after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Katz threatened to destroy the Palestinian territory’s largest city.
Israel angrily denied there was a famine, with the foreign ministry saying the report was “based on Hamas lies laundered through organisations with vested interests”.
The famine was declared by experts at the Rome-based IPC, who said it affected 500,000 people in the Gaza governorate, which covers about a fifth of the Palestinian territory, including Gaza City.
International outcry
Israel this week doubled down on plans to launch a new offensive to capture the city, despite an international outcry, saying it would help bring about the defeat of Hamas.
The IPC projected that the famine would expand to Deir el-Balah and Khan Yunis governorates by the end of September, covering around two-thirds of Gaza.
UN agencies and aid groups have warned for months of a looming famine in Gaza, where Israel has severely restricted aid and at times completely cut it off during its nearly two-year war with Hamas.
The Israeli defence ministry body, which oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, known as COGAT, also rejected the report, saying previous editions had “proven inaccurate”.
‘Systematic obstruction by Israel’
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the famine was entirely preventable, saying food could not get through to the Palestinian territory “because of systematic obstruction by Israel”.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said it was “a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare” and said it “may also amount to the war crime of wilful killing”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a ceasefire, saying: “We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity”.
‘Haunt us all’
“After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions characterised by starvation, destitution and death,” the IPC report said.
By the end of September, it is expected that 614,000 people to be facing the same conditions.
It said the deterioration between July and August was the most severe since it began analysing hunger in Gaza, driven by a sharp escalation in the war and restrictions on supplies.
In early March, Israel completely banned aid from Gaza for two months, leading to severe shortages of food, medicines, and fuel.
