‘Hamas’s fake campaign’: Israel rejects IPC’s Gaza famine declaration as a ‘fabricated report’

Israel accused the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) of issuing a “fabricated” assessment after the UN-backed body formally declared a famine in Gaza City, alleging the move was tailored to support “Hamas’s fake campaign” and violated the IPC’s own standards.

In a sharp rebuttal, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed the IPC “twisted its own rules,” asserting the organisation halved a key famine threshold from 30% to 15% and “ignored” the required mortality criterion. The ministry said the findings relied on “Hamas lies” filtered through groups with vested interests.

‘No famine in Gaza,’ says Israel

Israel’s foreign minister dismissed the IPC’s declaration, arguing there is “no famine in Gaza,” citing the entry of some 100,000 aid trucks over nearly two years of war and what it described as a recent sharp fall in food prices. Officials said previous IPC projections on Gaza were “baseless” and predicted the latest assessment would be consigned to the “trash bin of political documents.” COGAT, the Israeli military body managing aid, also accused Hamas of pushing a “false starvation campaign,” and criticised the UN and others for spreading unsubstantiated claims.

IPC declares ‘famine’ in Gaza

The IPC, which evaluates global hunger emergencies, announced on Friday that famine conditions exist in Gaza City. It warned that by the end of September, the crisis could deepen and spread, potentially affecting around 1.07 million people already experiencing severe food shortages. Separately, Israel’s embassy in India posted on X to dispute the famine narrative, sharing a video of people eating pizza, shawarma and seafood and asserting that Gaza City’s food scene was “in a much better state this July.”

Under IPC criteria, a famine classification requires that at least 20% of households face extreme food shortages, 30% of children suffer acute malnutrition, and a minimum of two people per 10,000 die each day from hunger-related causes.