Extract from ABC News
The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessment is still warning at least 100,000 Palestinian children face malnutrition. (Reuters: Haseeb Alwazeer)
In short:
Gaza is no longer experiencing a famine, according to a global hunger monitor's latest report.
But the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warns there are still challenges ahead, with over 100,000 children facing malnutrition over the coming months.
The Israeli military agency coordinating aid into Gaza has disputed claims that there has been a famine in the Palestinian territory.
Palestinians in Gaza are no longer experiencing famine, a global hunger monitor says, following an improvement to access of humanitarian and commercial food deliveries.
The news comes after a fragile ceasefire came into effect on October 10, ending two years of war between Israel and Hamas militants.
The latest assessment by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification comes four months after it reported that 514,000 people — nearly a quarter of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip — were experiencing famine.
But the IPC warned on Friday 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 (would be) at risk of famine through mid-April 2026. This underscores the severe and ongoing humanitarian crisis," the IPC said in the report.
Israel controls all access to the coastal enclave.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, in August disputed that there was famine in Gaza. COGAT says 600-800 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.
Much of Gaza lies in ruins after two years of fighting between Hamas and Israel. (Reuters: Dawoud Abu Alkas)
COGAT rejected the report's findings.
"The report relies on severe gaps in data collection and on sources that do not reflect the full scope of humanitarian assistance," the agency said.
"As such, it misleads the international community, fuels disinformation and presents a false depiction of the reality on the ground."
Israel's Foreign Ministry said that far more aid was going into Gaza than what was reflected in the report and that food prices there had dropped sharply since July.
Hamas disputes Israel's aid 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 the small, crowded territory and have said Israel is blocking needed items from entering, which Israel denies.
Over 100,000 children still to face malnutrition, report says
The 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," the IPC said of Gaza on Friday.
"The situation remains highly fragile and is contingent on sustained, expanded and consistent humanitarian and commercial access."
The IPC report says access to food is improving as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds. (Reuters: Mahmoud Issa)
Even if a region has not been classified as in famine because those thresholds have not been met, the IPC can determine households are suffering catastrophic conditions, which it describes as an extreme lack of food, starvation and significantly increased risks of acute malnutrition and death.
The IPC said on Friday 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 6–59 months are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition and require treatment, with more than 31,000 severe cases," the IPC said.
"During the same period, 37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women will also face acute malnutrition and require treatment," it added.
Aid challenges remain
Antoine Renard, the top UN 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 Thursday.
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 Wednesday that humanitarian operations in Gaza were at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a "vague, arbitrary, and highly politicized" registration process.
The International Rescue Committee's 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 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."
Reuters
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