Israel refuted a United Nations-supported report declaring famine in Gaza, contending it contained “blatant fabrications.” An official from the foreign ministry indicated that Jerusalem would lobby donor states to withdraw funding unless the report is retracted.
In an August 22 report, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) stated that famine is currently ongoing in the Gaza Governorate and is projected to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the close of September. The report estimated that roughly one-third of Gaza’s approximately 2 million inhabitants — around 641,000 people — could soon face extreme starvation.
According to the IPC, 132,000 children under the age of 5 are expected to suffer acute malnutrition through 2026, with over 41,000 severe instances. It also noted that more than 55,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women also
The report attributed the crisis to nearly two years of conflict, the displacement of 1.9 million people, the collapse of local food production, and stringent restrictions on aid. It highlighted that even when food enters Gaza, a significant portion often fails to reach civilians.
Officials definitively rejected the findings, with Foreign Ministry Director General Eden Bar Tal informing reporters that the IPC had perpetrated “gross forgeries” and manipulated its own evidence to announce a famine.
Bar Tal asserted that the IPC fabricated 182 deaths to meet the famine threshold of 188. He accused the group of violating its own guidelines by employing a malnutrition metric prohibited in Gaza, relying on forbidden clinic-based samples, and selectively choosing survey data. He claimed that out of 15,749 children surveyed, the IPC utilized only 7,519, which was sufficient to push results above famine levels.
“The IPC report is forged for political ends. There is no doubt the IPC manipulated and disregarded data, broke its own rules, and concealed contradictory evidence,” Bar Tal stated, adding that the report was manufactured to “support Hamas’s starvation campaign.”
The Foreign Ministry issued a formal letter demanding the report’s withdrawal and cautioned that if it is not retracted, Israel would urge donor nations to freeze funding to the IPC “until professional credibility is restored.” It also distributed a PowerPoint presentation titled “The IPC Fraud,” which characterized the process as “shooting the arrow and then drawing the target.” One slide read: “The facts are clear: The IPC report is forged.”
The IPC did not respond to Digital requests for comment.
During a Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Dorothy Shea, the acting U.S. ambassador to the U.N., stated that hunger was a genuine concern and a priority for the U.S., but she also expressed reservations about the IPC report.
“We can only solve problems with credibility and integrity. Unfortunately, the recent report from the IPC doesn’t pass the test either. One of the report’s key authors has a lengthy record of bias against Israel, including openly justifying the Houthi terrorist attacks on Israeli civilian targets. By his own measure, he ought to have recused himself. This helps explain why the normal standards were changed for this declaration, raising significant questions,” she remarked.
In response to Digital’s questions, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the U.N., defended the IPC process and dismissed Israel’s claims: “The data that the IPC put out on famine in Gaza is robust. It is scientific and it is technical,” Dujarric affirmed. “IPC famine analysis uses a standard measurement … reviewed carefully by an independent group of experts who confirmed that a famine is taking place in Gaza Governorate.”
He noted that the IPC relied on “recent and verified” U.N. agency data streams including WHO, UNICEF, UNRWA, and WFP, while also taking into account figures from Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).
Regarding whether Hamas’s exploitation of aid was considered, Dujarric said 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.”
On Thursday, Secretary-General António Guterres asserted that “Famine is no longer a looming possibility — it is a a present-day catastrophe. People are dying from hunger, families are being torn apart by displacement and despair,” Guterres told reporters before briefing the Security Council.