Gaza is officially experiencing famine, according to a worldwide hunger monitor.

A global hunger monitor said on Friday that famine is officially occurring in Gaza City and the surrounding areas and is expected to spread. The ruling will increase pressure on Israel to permit more aid to enter the Palestinian enclave.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system, 514,000 people—nearly 25% of Gaza’s Palestinian population—are suffering from famine, and by the end of September, that figure is expected to increase to 641,000. About 280,000 of them reside in the Gaza Governorate, a territory in the north that includes Gaza City. According to the IPC, the region was under starvation after Israel and Palestinian terrorists Hamas fought each other for about two years.

The IPC reported that famine conditions would extend to the central and southern regions of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month, marking the first time the organization had documented famine outside of Africa.

Although there is insufficient data to make a clear classification, it said that the situation further north might be even worse than in Gaza City.
Israel denounced the study as biased and inaccurate, claiming that the IPC had based its poll on incomplete data that was primarily supplied by Hamas and failed to account for a recent food influx.

“There is no famine in Gaza,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.

One in three children must be severely malnourished, two out of every 10,000 people must die every day from starvation or malnutrition and disease, and at least 20% of the population must be experiencing severe food shortages for a region to be declared in famine. In the past, the IPC has only documented famines in Sudan, South Sudan, and Somalia.

The IPC can identify homes in a region experiencing famine conditions, which it defines as starvation, destitution, and death, even if those criteria have not yet been reached and the region has not been declared to be under famine. The Gaza famine was described as a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself” by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement.

He called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages still held by Hamas and unfettered humanitarian access.

“People are starving. Children are dying. And those with the duty to act are failing … We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity.”

U.N. human rights official Volker Türk warned that starving deaths might be considered a war crime and claimed that the Israeli government was directly responsible for the famine in Gaza.  Following claims that the humanitarian crisis had reached “unimaginable levels” by Britain, Canada, Australia, and other European nations, the IPC analysis was released.
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has consistently denied famine and accused Hamas of causing food shortages, clashed with U.S. President Donald Trump when he said that many people there were starving.