Israeli authorities have criticized a recent report from an organization that had previously declared famine in Gaza earlier this year, labeling the new findings as biased with conclusions that were “preordained.”
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a group supported by the United Nations, had initially reported famine conditions in the Gaza Governorate in August. However, the latest report claims that approximately 1.6 million residents of Gaza are experiencing “severe levels of acute food insecurity.”
IDF Major General Ghassan Alian, who leads the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which manages issues related to Gaza, denounced the IPC’s “partial claims.” He argued these claims ignore the influx of food supplies during the ceasefire, suggesting that the report’s findings were predetermined.
Palestinians receive aid from the U.S.-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, on May 29, 2025. (Ramadan Abed/Reuters)
A statement from COGAT emphasized, “It’s crucial to remember that this isn’t the first instance of IPC reports on Gaza issuing dire forecasts that fail to materialize. Time after time, IPC’s evaluations have been proven inaccurate, disconnected from reality, and contradict verified data, including aid quantities, food availability, and market conditions. The global community should act with caution, avoiding falling for misleading narratives and biased information, and should not endorse an unprofessional report.”
The latest IPC report, reviewed by its Famine Review Committee, acknowledged the altered circumstances, noting that “after the release of the [previous] FRC report, there was a partial easing of the blockade, leading to increased access to food and essential supplies.” Although the FRC admits this “came too late to prevent famine in Gaza Governorate during July and early August, it has helped avert the continuation and expansion of famine to other governorates in the projected period.”
Gazans carry food airdropped by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates on July. 27 (TPS-IL)
In August, the IPC projected that two additional governorates would experience famine by Sept. 30. At the time, several experts disputed the presence of famine conditions, including Dr. David Adesnik, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Adesnik told Fox News Digital that mortality figures, while worrisome, did not reach levels expected during famine conditions. He also said that the prices on key food items had remained relatively stagnant or even declined during the period of alleged famine.
Following the IPC’s latest report, Adesnik said that the IPC are still “dodging the question of proving that they were right” about prior famine declarations.
In assessing the lack of mortality numbers that indicate famine, Adesnik said one of the IPC’s current arguments is that “data largely capture trauma-related deaths and overlook a substantial proportion of non-traumatic mortality.” He called this “a big leap,” explaining “They’re basically saying that with all of its efforts to track down every name of someone killed during the war, the Gaza Ministry of Health somehow missed all the people who didn’t die because of bullets, shrapnel or falling buildings — that there’s just all these people who would have died of hunger, disease, other things.”
He said that the IPC’s figures show the highest number of malnutrition-related deaths per month being 27, with all malnutrition deaths peaking at 186. “Hundreds of people dying from malnutrition is still a terrible, terrible thing,” Adesnik said. “But we were asking a question: Is this famine? And that is not remotely close to the threshold for determining famine.”
Palestinians await donated food at a community kitchen in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, May 19, 2025. (Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo)
The IPC told Fox News Digital that to meet the famine threshold, “at least two in every 10,000 people” “or at least four in every 10,000 children under five are dying daily” on account of “outright starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.”
In response to questions about its famine data, the IPC told Fox News Digital that “in the case of the Gaza analysis, there was clear evidence that thresholds for starvation and acute malnutrition had been reached, and analysts reasonably assessed from the broader evidence that the mortality threshold (third outcome) has likely been reached.”
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said on X that “The IPC also disregards the fact that, on average, between 600 and 800 aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip every day, 70% of them carrying food – nearly five times more than what the IPC itself said was required for the Strip.”
Palestinians carry bags and boxes containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 16, 2025. (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo)
Though it is not claiming famine is underway, the IPC still states that in a “worst-case scenario” of a return to conflict, “the entire Gaza Strip is at risk of famine through mid-April 2026.”
Adesnik said that the IPC is merely “guessing about the future.” He noted that accuracy from the IPC holds serious importance given the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice’s allegations of war crimes and genocide against Israel. A declaration of famine would be a “big building block in what seems to prove part of the case.”
Last week, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sanctioned two more members of the ICC for engaging “in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent, including voting with the majority in favor of the ICC’s ruling against Israel’s appeal on December 15.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the State Department “will continue to hold accountable those responsible for the ICC’s morally bankrupt and legally baseless actions against Americans and Israelis.”
