FAMINE IN GAZA: fact or fake?
DISCLAIMER
Is there really a famine in Gaza or is it, as Israel’s Foreign Ministry called it, “fabricated” and “tailor-made to fit Hamas’s fake campaign?” Is it fact or fake?
Just writing this article feels like a public indictment of our shared humanity. The fact that we must prove, explain, and defend the reality of suffering—debate its legitimacy or quantify its pain—is in itself a moral and spiritual failure. We do not stand beside a hospital bed and demand proof of injury before offering comfort. We do not audit or legitimise the pain. We simply draw near, and let compassion do what legalities cannot.
And yet—heartbreakingly so—there remain voices that question the evidence of starvation. As if the skeletal bodies of children, the desperate scramble for air-dropped aid, and the haunting pleas for bread are not testimony enough. As if suffering must first pass through the court of public opinion before it is deemed worthy of response.
This article is not written to persuade those who have already chosen disbelief. It is not a courtroom defense. It is a candle held against the shadows—an attempt to illuminate the process with clarity, and to stir a deeper, more courageous empathy. Not the kind that feels sorry from afar, but the kind that dares to come close. The kind that asks, not “Is this true?” but “What does love require of me now?”
BACKGROUND
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported on 22 August 2025 that Gaza City is now experiencing the worst man-made famine in modern history
- Declared: August 22, 2025
- Location: Gaza City, Palestine
- Scale: Over 500,000 people—a quarter of Gaza’s population—are facing catastrophic conditions marked by starvation, destitution, and death.
- Cause: The famine is described by humanitarian experts as a “man-made disaster”, driven by prolonged siege, destruction of infrastructure, restricted aid access, and displacement due to war.
- This marks the first time in recent history that a famine has been declared in an urban centre under such intense military and political pressure. It echoes earlier tragedies like the Holodomor in Ukraine (1932–33), also considered man-made due to Soviet policies.
PRESS RELEASE
In a joint press-release on 22 August 2025 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that more than half a million people in Gaza are trapped in famine, marked by widespread starvation, destitution and preventable deaths. The statement came after a new IPC report was released a day earlier. It is important to note that the report was not released by Hamas or the Gaza Health Department but a joint release by some of the worlds most trusted and non-partisan organisations.
In addition, Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) joined over 100 other organizations sounding the alarm about mass starvation in Gaza, calling for unrestricted humanitarian access and an immediate ceasefire. Their staff and patients have been directly affected, with reports of acute malnutrition, collapsed health systems, and aid workers themselves queuing for food
In July alone, 13,000 children were diagnosed with acute malnutrition—a six-fold increase since February. UNICEF reports that children are dying from hunger faster than aid can reach them. These reports were based on actual cases, not estimates or assumptions.
“Gaza is now on the brink of a full-scale famine. People are starving not because food is unavailable, but because access is blocked, local agrifood systems have collapsed, and families can no longer sustain even the most basic livelihoods,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu.
The agencies are also gravely concerned about the threat of an intensified military offensive in Gaza City and any escalation in the conflict, as it would have further devastating consequences for civilians where famine conditions already exist. Many people – especially sick and malnourished children, older people and people with disabilities – may be unable to evacuate.
By the end of September, more than 640,000 people will face catastrophic levels of food insecurity – classified as IPC Phase 5* – across the Gaza Strip. An additional 1.14 million people in the territory will be in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and a further 396,000 people in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) conditions. Conditions in North Gaza are estimated to be as severe – or worse – than in Gaza City.
*IPC Phase 5—Famine—is the most severe classification on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale. It’s not declared lightly. It involves a technical, evidence-based consensus that the following thresholds have been met:
- 20%+ of households face extreme food shortages
- 30%+ of children suffer acute malnutrition
- 2+ people per 10,000 die daily from hunger or related causes
IS THE REPORT TRUSTWORTHY?
Because of its neutrality and the support of more than 100 non-political organisations, the report by the IPC is considered highly trustworthy by humanitarian and food security experts—though it’s politically contested.
WHY IT’S CONSIDERED TRUSTWORTHY
The report comes from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a non-political, non-partisan initiative used globally to assess food crises. It is endorsed by dozens of governments, UN agencies, and NGOs, and follows strict and verifiable criteria. The IPC uses a rigorous, multi-layered methodology to verify famine data. It’s designed to ensure that any declaration—especially of Phase 5 (Famine)—is based on objective, cross-validated evidence, not political pressure or speculation. The IPC relies on:
- Agencies like WFP, UNICEF, WHO
- NGOs and local health systems
- Field surveys, including anthropometric measurements (e.g. weight-for-height, MUAC)
- Mortality tracking, often through hospitals and community health workers
When famine is suspected, IPC activates an independent panel of experts—the Famine Review Committee (FRC) —to:
- Review all data
- Assess reliability and consistency
- Ensure thresholds are met without bias
Each data point is then graded for:
- Source credibility
- Methodological soundness
- Timeliness and geographic coverage
If data is incomplete due to conflict or access issues (as in Gaza), IPC uses triangulation—cross-checking multiple indicators and sources to build a reliable picture. In Gaza, IPC used:
- MUAC measurements (Mid-Upper Arm Circumference) for malnutrition
- Hospital mortality records
- Household food access surveys
Despite Israeli claims of fabrication, IPC clarified that the 15% MUAC threshold used in Gaza has been standard for nearly a decade.
Despite challenges in gathering mortality data in war zones, the IPC used multiple sources—including satellite imagery, medical staff, hospital records, and field reports—to confirm the thresholds were met
WHY IT’S POLITICALLY CONTESTED
1. Israel’s Rejection
As expected Israel denied any traces of famine. Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the IPC report “fabricated” and “tailor-made to fit Hamas’s fake campaign,” accusing the IPC of bending its own rules to smear Israel. The Israeli government insists that it continues to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
2. Accusations of Weaponization
UN officials and aid groups counter that aid is systematically obstructed, and some Israeli leaders have openly promoted starvation as a tactic. UN human rights chief Volker Türk called it a “war crime”.
The fact that hundreds of Rabbis across the world signed a letter in July 2025 urging Israel to stop “using starvation as a weapon of war,” calling it a “grave moral crisis” and a violation of Jewish ethical values, gave legitimacy to this claim.
BOTTOM LINE
The famine declaration is not a political statement—it’s a technical, evidence-based assessment. It’s backed by the world’s leading food security experts and humanitarian agencies. While contested by some governments, it reflects a dire reality on the ground that’s been corroborated by multiple independent sources.
Even if only half the reported figures are accurate, we are still witnessing what may be the most devastating man-made famine of our generation—a catastrophe of biblical proportions and a piercing indictment of global conscience.
The famine in Gaza is not merely a humanitarian emergency. It is a moral reckoning that confronts every community of faith with a question: Will we respond, or will we be remembered for our silence?
Unless the church speaks with clarity and compassion, unless we embody the justice we proclaim, history will not be kind. Just as we recall the indifference of much of the European church during the horrors of Nazi Germany, so too will future generations look back on this moment and ask: where were the prophets? Where was the courage? Where was the love that refused to look away?
A PROPHETIC RESPONSE
This famine is not just a tragedy—it’s a call to action. To speak truth. To demand accountability. To refuse the normalization of suffering. As Guterres said, “The time for action is not tomorrow—it is now”.
This famine is not just a geopolitical crisis—it’s a theological wake-up call. For the Church, Gaza’s suffering is an authentic test of our witness, our worship, and our willingness to embody Christ in the world’s most forsaken places.
WHY IT MATTERS
- Because Christ is in Gaza: “Whatever you did for the least of these…” (Matthew 25:40). The starving child, the grieving mother, the bombed-out parish—these are not abstractions. They are Christ crucified in our midst. To ignore Gaza is to turn away from the wounded body of Christ.
- Because the Church is present and suffering: Holy Family Catholic Church and St. Porphyrios Orthodox Church are sheltering hundreds amid bombardment and famine. These communities are cooking with solar panels, running makeshift schools, and offering psychosocial care to traumatized children. Their resilience is a living gospel.
- Because silence is complicity: When famine is man-made—through blockade, bombardment, and obstruction of aid—neutrality becomes moral failure. Church leaders have pleaded for unrestricted humanitarian access. Their cries must be echoed, not buried beneath polite prayers.
- Because peacemaking is not passive: The Church is called to be salt and light—not sentiment and silence. Gaza’s famine demands prophetic lament, courageous advocacy, and sacrificial solidarity. This is not about taking sides—it’s about taking a stand.
A LITURGICAL RESPONSE
Imagine a Sunday service where the prayers of the faithful include Gaza’s children by name. Where the Eucharist is received with the knowledge that some believers in Gaza eat only twice a week. Where sermons wrestle with the cost of peace and the courage of compassion.
I vividly remember sitting on an airplane flying from Djibouti to Sudan an entering a conversation with the passenger sitting next to me. We exchanged casualties and then started engaging in conversation regarding our different ministries. I have just returned from Eritrea, serving the persecuted Church in a nation that is still ranked today as the most closed country in Africa for sharing the Gospel. It has been a traumatic visit, meeting believers who were locked in metal containers and who have suffered severely for their faith.
Stan, on the other hand, just returned from Djibouti where he served with USAID and working amongst the poorest of the poor. Our common bond was brokenness. We wept as we shared our different experiences.
As we disembarked, I looked at my newfound friend and greeted him with these words: “I will pray for you Stan, may the Lord be with you.” He looked at me, smiled, and answered “take the prayers you would have prayed for me and offer it to those that I serve. They need it more than I do”
That sacrificial heart stayed with me for the past 20 years. We are still friends today.
So, here is the challenge. Will you sacrifice a prayer that was meant for you today and lay it at the feet of our Saviour. Will you spend time in Church this week and use your liturgy and litany for those who need it more than you do? Will you? Then use the following prayer as a Church:
Leader:
God of the broken bread and the bruised body,
we gather in the shadow of famine,
where children cry for food,
and the silence of the powerful echoes louder than bombs.
All:
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Leader:
For the Church in Gaza—
sheltering the hungry, baptizing in rubble,
breaking bread with trembling hands—
we give thanks for their witness.
All:
Strengthen your body, O Christ,
where it is pierced and bleeding.
Leader:
For every hungry child,
every mother who buries her child with no shroud,
every priest who prays with empty hands—
we lament the cruelty that masquerades as policy.
All:
Forgive us, O God,
for the sins we name and the ones we ignore.
Leader:
Let our worship not be hollow.
Let our communion not be comfortable.
Let our prayers disturb the peace of the complicit.
All:
Make us peacemakers, not peacekeepers.
Prophets, not spectators.
Leader:
Come, Lord Jesus—
not only to comfort,
but to confront.
All:
Amen.
For practical assistance, please visit: https://www.dialogos.co.za/project-hope-gaza/
SOURCES
https://www.wfp.org/news/famine-confirmed-first-time-gaza