Gaza no longer in famine, says global hunger watchdog, after influx of aid following ceasefire
- - Gaza no longer in famine, says global hunger watchdog, after influx of aid following ceasefire
Nadeen Ebrahim, Eugenia Yosef, CNNDecember 20, 2025 at 1:02 AM
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Palestinian women receive donated food at a community kitchen in Nuseirat, central Gaza, on Wednesday, December 17. - Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
There is no longer famine in Gaza, a United Nations-backed hunger monitor announced on Friday, after an influx of humanitarian aid into the strip following a ceasefire agreed in October between Israel and Hamas.
“Following a significant reduction in conflict, a proposed peace plan, and improved access for both humanitarian and commercial food deliveries, food security conditions have improved in the Gaza Strip,” the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said. “No areas are classified in Famine,” it added.
The global watchdog had said in August that parts of Gaza are officially experiencing a “man-made” famine.
The organization noted, however, that despite these improvements, most of Gaza’s population faced high levels of acute food insecurity.
“Although humanitarian assistance, including food aid, has increased, only basic survival needs are being met,” the IPC said.
Still a risk of famine
While Gaza’s classification has changed, the IPC warned that the risk of the enclave falling back into famine remains.
“Under a worst-case scenario involving renewed hostilities and a halt in humanitarian and commercial inflows, North Gaza, Gaza Governorate, Deir al-Balah, and Khan Younis would face a risk of Famine through mid-April 2026,” it said.
Israel in August heavily disputed that there was famine in Gaza, saying it was doing all it could to allow aid into the strip.
In response to Friday’s IPC report, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said: “In the face of the facts, even the IPC is forced to admit. There is no famine in Gaza,” adding that there are “hundreds” of aid trucks entering the strip every day.
The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli agency tasked with facilitating aid distribution in Gaza, said that between 600-800 aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip every day, approximately 70% of which carry food.
Hamas has previously disputed figures from COGAT, saying that not enough aid is making it into the enclave.
CNN, along with other media outlets, has widely reported on hunger and starvation in Gaza. Before the ceasefire, during its two years of war, Israel has at times restricted or cut off the entry of aid to the ravaged enclave.
While some people have died of starvation and hunger, others have been killed trying to receive aid at distribution sites.
August was the first time the IPC had confirmed famine in the Middle East. Under the IPC system – a five-phase scale used to measure the severity of food insecurity – a famine can only be declared if data shows certain thresholds are met.
Those conditions are: at least 20% of all households must face an extreme food shortage, 30% or more of children must be acutely malnourished or 15% of children suffering from acute malnutrition based on body measurements, and at least two in every 10,000 people die every day because of outright starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.
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