This claim is false. Formal famine in Gaza was confirmed in August 2025 by UN backed experts and the World Health Organization because the three critical thresholds of extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition, and starvation related deaths were crossed as affirmed via the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis on the basis of reasonable evidence that these criteria for classified famine had been met. This marks the first time famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East region.
Since the attack by Hamas on October 7th, 2022, famine has been rampant in Gaza, but long before the horrific event the seeds for starvation and suffering were sown. The policies of the Israeli government, largely Israel’s military campaign, shaped a food insecure environment for the people of Gaza, and though Israeli government officials emphasize Hamas’ stockpiling and diversion of humanitarian resources in precipitating the hunger crisis, a wide range of aid groups have observed the other side of this catastrophe.
In 2010, after Hamas had recently taken control of Gaza, the United Nations reported the Israeli government sectored off 29% of Gaza’s farm land approximately a year prior as a part of new security regulations for civilian protection, the area is referred to in the report as the “Buffer Zone (no-go area).” The article by Think Global Health (https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org), titled “Gaza’s Food Crisis Began Long Before the Israel-Hamas Conflict,” informs readers that the food crisis in Gaza today was provoked by many acts of the Israeli government over the years, one of the first being the segregation of fertile land in Gaza, home to farmers and herders who were no longer permitted to cultivate their land and work to provide for the people of Gaza. Israel implemented a “dual-use” system, regulating what resources could come into their territory based on whether or not they had a civilian or military purpose. These import restrictions devastated the economy of Gaza. The regulations on water, the most critical resource to survival, had the most extreme impact on the health of Gazan civilians. It is reported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that Israel had access to approximately 70% of the water supply, and less than 16% of materials for water sanitation made it into Gaza, these numbers would prove to be crushing for the people of Gaza as seawater and untreated sewage was infiltrating the supply in their homes. Water pollution not only became the leading cause in infant mortality, but also affected the fishing industry of Gaza, for Israel possesses full power over the waters off Gaza forcing Gazans to fish in shallow and contaminated water, which only contributes to further poverty. As of August 2025, the World Health Organization reports approximately 98% of cropland in the territory is either damaged or inaccessible.
Together with the World Health Organization, FAO, WEP, and WHO reiterate with urgency the call for an immediate ceasefire and full-scale humanitarian rescue as more than half a million people in Gaza are trapped in famine. In August, the World Health Organization stated that by the end of September more than 640,000 people will face catastrophic levels of food insecurity. It’s almost the end of October. The state of suffering in Gaza is crystal clear. A single anonymous video that is staged, or not, does not stand a chance against the facts of dozens of top news sources across the globe and thousands of eyewitnesses.
At this point, the crisis in Gaza is about saving human lives. Innocent mothers, fathers, babies, and families who are caught in the crossfire of a battle that was never worth the life of one child.
https://www.who.int/news/item/22-08-2025-famine-confirmed-for-first-time-in-gaza
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-205890/
https://www.ochaopt.org/content/study-warns-water-sanitation-crisis-gaza-may-cause-disease-outbreak-and-possible-epidemic
