Netanyahu’s attack on the Gaza famine report aims to hide the truth from Israelis

A malnourished girl at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, August 2025

Nir Hasson writes in Haaretz on 24 August 2025:

Many low points have been recorded throughout the war in Gaza. A few days ago, another was added. An international expert body on food security determined that Israel is responsible for famine in Gaza, at the most severe level possible: Phase 5, with “reasonable evidence.”

According to the report published by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, famine currently exists in the Gaza Governorate and is expected to spread southward into other parts of the Strip. To understand how severe this is, consider which countries have experienced Phase 5 famine in the 21st century. All of them are in Africa. The most recent was Sudan in 2023. Others include Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia. In Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Nigeria, famine was declared at lower levels.

For official Israel, the report represents a political and public diplomacy disaster. In recent days, a large team of government officials and military officers has worked intensively to find flaws in the report. The campaign to undermine it began even before its release, led by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. Much of the Israeli media quickly echoed the official line, portraying the report as biased, agenda-driven and unreliable.

It’s hard to believe the global community will be convinced, but that was never the goal. The real purpose is to hide the truth from the Israeli public – the truth about what is being done in its name. That reality is already evident in virtual visits to Gaza’s clinics, such as those featured in a Haaretz weekend article that coincided with the report’s publication.
To understand both the report and Israel’s attempts to discredit it, it is necessary to understand what the IPC is. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification was created in 2004 to assess famine in Somalia. It collects data from 21 recognized humanitarian organizations, both UN-affiliated and independent, and applies a rigorous expert-led analysis. Its technical guide spans more than 200 pages.

Governments and humanitarian organization have sometimes criticized the IPC for being too conservative and methodologically rigid, which may result in underestimating famines as they occur. “They are very cautious,” said Professor Alex de Waal, a global hunger expert, in an interview with Haaretz recently. “If you can’t get that data, or if that data is being suppressed, there will be no famine declaration – even if the famine is severe. You may only realize it afterward, when you come back and count the children’s graves.”

Three indicators of a man-made famine

Phase 5 famine is officially classified when three key indicators are breached.

First, the IPC measures food consumption: Is there enough food in a specific area? Is it accessible to the entire population? According to field surveys cited in the report, 86 percent of Gaza households reported poor food consumption. More than half of adults said they skipped meals at least four times a week (many Gazans told Haaretz they eat just one meal per day). A third reported searching for food among rubble.

Israel does not dispute these figures. It is a matter of record that food shipments into Gaza were blocked for more than two months and even after that, only small quantities of food were allowed in.

The second criterion is severe or acute malnutrition, especially among children. Data is collected from dozens of clinics where medical staff measure upper-arm circumference. Israel claims this sampling is skewed, arguing the children assessed were the weakest, and that the method doesn’t reflect true nutritional status – unlike weight and height. Some even claimed the method was invented specifically for Gaza.

However, the same method, which appears in the IPC protocol, was also used to measure hunger in Sudan, and it is accepted in places where the healthcare system is collapsing and it is not possible to measure the height and weight every child – for example, in Gaza. Furthermore, the surveys also included healthy children who had come to clinics for vaccinations.

Israel also argues that even under IPC standards, the July data did not yet cross the 15 percent threshold for acute malnutrition in children required to declare Phase 5. This is only partly accurate. The IPC report distinguishes between the first and second halves of July. The threshold was breached in the second half, around the time famine deaths began to be reported, on July 20. What matters is the trend, which points clearly to deterioration.

The third criterion is famine-related mortality. The threshold for Phase 5 is two deaths per 10,000 people per day. Israel contends that Gaza’s rate is far below that. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 205 people died from hunger in July, which equals about 0.3 deaths per 10,000 per day.

However, this framing is misleading. The IPC does not focus solely on death from starvation. It includes non-violent mortality in general. Mass hunger is not only a medical issue caused by food shortage. It is a total collapse of the systems that sustain life. Elderly people and infants die because their immune systems are weakened. They suffer infections from living in tents without sewage or clean water. Chronically ill patients die because they cannot access treatment or special food, or are too weak to travel to clinics. Premature births and pregnancy complications are rising. And this is only a partial list.

Over the past two weeks, Haaretz interviewed 13 doctors who are either currently working in Gaza or had been there recently. All reported that their patients’ health is deteriorating rapidly, and that the entire population is suffering.

According to the IPC report, “Mortality in the Gaza Strip is likely underreported, particularly for non-traumatic and household-level deaths, due to the collapse of monitoring systems. The health system crisis is being exacerbated by multi-drug-resistant infections, rendering previously treatable injuries fatal.”

Lies, half-truths and gaslighting

The peak of Israel’s counter-narrative came in a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, which was filled with lies, half-truths, gaslighting, and claims of a “modern-day blood libel.” Many claims had already been debunked – but here they are again:

Netanyahu claims that Israel has “enabled two million tons of aid to enter the Gaza Strip, over one ton of aid per person.” Even if that figure is accurate, it raises a basic question: is one ton per person over the course of nearly two years a lot or a little? The average person eats hundreds of kilograms of food per year.

Also, not all aid is food. Many trucks carried fuel, tents and medical supplies. It is unclear whether those were included in the count. Added to this are the looting of trucks, the unequal distribution of food, and the fact that those most in need often struggle to access it. Even if all of that is ignored, the central fact remains: Israel blocked the entry of food for an extended period, and no statistical average can undo that.

Another dubious claim repeated by Netanyahu is that Hamas seized humanitarian aid. There is no evidence for this. Even senior IDF officers, quoted by The New York Times, confirmed as much. This was also reinforced in an analysis by the USAID agency. Netanyahu also falsely claimed that the UN was not collecting the aid that entered Gaza. In reality, the only obstacle is the IDF. Of 79 movement requests the UN submitted to the military last week, only 45 were fully approved.

Netanyahu also claimed food prices in Gaza had dropped. What he failed to mention is that this only happened after reports of deaths from starvation – and after Israel ignored repeated warnings – prompted international pressure that forced it to let more food into Gaza. Even now, the quantities entering the Strip are far below what is needed.

Famine has existed throughout human history. It appears in the Bible and in the mythology of every civilization. But in the 21st century, famine is extremely rare. Humanity has learned how to produce, transport, and preserve food, and how to feed even the most vulnerable. That is why famine today is always man-made. It happens when people deliberately prevent others from accessing the food they need. By that definition, the famine in Gaza is a clear example of this.

There is no shortage of calories, proteins or vitamins around the Strip. For months, food-laden trucks have waited in Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Israel, ready to enter Gaza and feed its people. The Israeli government, driven by revenge and political survival, knowingly created this catastrophe.

The hunger in Gaza is real. And it is of our own making.

This article is reproduced in its entirety