Tue Sep 02 10:52:16 UTC 2025: **Gaza Faces Devastating Famine as Hunger-Related Deaths Surge, UN Calls it “Man-Made Disaster”**
**Gaza City** – The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached a breaking point, with a staggering number of deaths due to hunger since the start of the conflict. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, over 360 people, including 130 children, have perished from starvation since October 7, 2023. August saw a particularly grim toll, with 185 deaths attributed to malnutrition alone.
The situation is deteriorating rapidly, with the Ministry reporting an additional 13 deaths, including three children, in a single 24-hour period. A statement issued on Tuesday said that at least 83 people, including 15 children, have died since the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a United Nations-backed global hunger-monitoring system, declared last month that parts of Gaza were undergoing a full-blown famine.
The health crisis extends beyond fatalities, with a reported 43,000 children under five suffering from malnutrition, alongside over 55,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women. Two-thirds of pregnant women are battling anemia, a rate the Ministry describes as the highest in years, placing both mothers and newborns at severe risk.
The IPC’s declaration on August 22 highlighted that 514,000 people in Gaza, nearly a quarter of the population, are experiencing famine conditions. They expect the number to rise to 641,000 by the end of September. This is the first time the IPC has recorded famine outside Africa.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the situation as a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment and a failure of humanity itself”. He emphasized Israel’s “unequivocal obligations” under international law to ensure the delivery of food and medical supplies to Gaza, given its status as an occupying power.
While humanitarian organizations are demanding immediate action, Israel has rejected the famine findings, claiming that there is no famine in Gaza despite the IPC’s overwhelming evidence.
Adding to the suffering, Israeli attacks continue to claim lives across Gaza, with at least 63 Palestinians killed since dawn on Tuesday, according to medical sources. Israeli attacks are mainly, but not solely, now focused on Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban centre, as the Israeli army relentlessly bombards it and tries to forcibly displace its residents to the southern part of the enclave.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars, a 500-member body of academics founded in 1994, passed a resolution on Monday stating that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza fulfil the definition of genocide set out in the 1948 UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The international community faces mounting pressure to address the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and to hold those responsible accountable for the devastating conditions.
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