Israel has strongly contested a United Nations-backed report that claims famine is already occurring in Gaza and could spread to other areas by September. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, released on August 22, warned that approximately 641,000 people in Gaza—around one-third of the 2 million residents—are at risk of catastrophic starvation, with millions of children and pregnant women facing severe malnutrition. The report’s findings have sparked intense political and humanitarian debate, as Israel and international actors clash over its credibility.
The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Ministry Director General Eden Bar Tal, has dismissed the report as a politically motivated fabrication. Bar Tal alleged that the IPC “committed gross forgeries,” including manipulating data by fabricating 182 deaths to meet the famine threshold of 188. He accused the report of violating its own procedural rules by using malnutrition measurements that are not permitted in Gaza, relying on clinic-based samples, and cherry-picking survey data. Bar Tal claimed that of the 15,749 children surveyed, the IPC used only 7,519, which he argued was sufficient to skew results. “This report is forged for political purposes. No doubt the IPC manipulated and ignored data, broke its own rules, and hid contradictory evidence,” he said, framing the report as part of a broader effort to support Hamas’s alleged starvation campaign.
The IPC’s report has also drawn criticism from U.S. officials, including acting U.N. Ambassador Dorothy Shea, who questioned the report’s credibility. She noted that one of the report’s key authors has a history of bias against Israel, including justifying Houthi attacks on Israeli civilians. Shea argued that this bias “helps explain why the normal standards were changed for this declaration, raising significant questions.” She urged the international community to prioritize solutions that rely on “credibility and integrity.”
The U.N. Secretary-General’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, defended the IPC process, describing its data as “robust,” “scientific,” and “technical.” He highlighted the use of verified data from U.N. agencies like WHO, UNICEF, UNRWA, and WFP, as well as information from Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). Dujarric argued that the IPC’s findings underscore the urgent need for humanitarian aid and the challenges faced by organizations in delivering assistance to civilians in Gaza. He also noted that the report “illustrates the constraints that hinder humanitarian organizations from distributing aid and stand in the way of allowing people to get the aid they need.”
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized the gravity of the crisis, declaring, “Famine is no longer a looming possibility — it is a present-day catastrophe. People are dying from hunger, families are being torn apart by displacement and despair.” This statement has intensified pressure on both Israel and international organizations to address the crisis, particularly as the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate. The dispute over the IPC report has further complicated efforts to secure aid and has raised questions about the role of political bias in international assessments of humanitarian emergencies.