A United Nations-backed panel of food-security experts has confirmed that famine is under way in Gaza City and the surrounding Gaza Governorate, the first such determination ever recorded in the Middle East. The finding by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) elevates the area to Phase 5—the highest level of food insecurity—after months of rapidly worsening hunger amid Israel’s blockade and ongoing conflict with Hamas. The IPC review, covering the period 1 July to 15 August, estimates that about 514,000 people—roughly a quarter of Gaza’s population—are already experiencing catastrophic shortages of food, with acute malnutrition and death rates above internationally recognised famine thresholds. More than 1 million additional residents are assessed to be in Phase 4 emergency conditions. Unless unrestricted aid and a cease-fire are secured, the committee projects that famine will spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September, pushing the number of people in famine to around 641,000 and raising Phase 4 cases to 1.14 million. North Gaza could not be fully assessed because of access restrictions, suggesting the figures may understate the scale of the crisis. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called the situation “entirely preventable”, while human-rights commissioner Volker Türk warned that starvation caused by aid obstruction could constitute a war crime. Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the report as “false and biased”, contending that the IPC relied on flawed, Hamas-sourced data and insisting that no famine exists. The IPC has issued famine assessments only five times since its creation in 2004, most recently in Sudan last year. The latest declaration comes as Israeli forces prepare a new offensive in Gaza City nearly two years into the war, which Gaza’s health ministry says has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians and left the vast majority of homes damaged or destroyed.