‘Worst-case scenario of famine’ unfolding in Gaza, IPC says
Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — The “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in Gaza, according to a warning issued Tuesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global initiative monitoring hunger with the backing of governments, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations.
“Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the IPC warning said. “Latest data thresholds have been reached for food consumption in the Gaza Strip, and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.”
More than 100 aid groups warned last week of a dire food shortage in the territory, saying there was an impending “mass starvation” for the Palestinians living there.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his administration have denied there is a hunger crisis in Gaza.
“Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza. What a bold-faced lie,” Netanyahu said during an event in Jerusalem on Sunday. “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.”
U.S. President Donald Trump appeared on Monday to contradict Netanyahu, saying he doesn’t know if he believes claims that there is no starvation occurring in Gaza.
The Israeli military said on Sunday it would put in place daily “tactical” pauses and open corridors to facility aid delivery.
IPC said Tuesday it was issuing a “stark” warning about the scenario unfolding in Gaza, adding that malnutrition had been “rising rapidly” in the first half of July.
“Immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow for unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response,” the initiative said in its alert. “This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering.”
Palestinians, including children, who are struggling to access food due to Israel’s blockade and ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, wait in line to receive hot meals distributed by the charity organization at Al-Mawasi area in Khan Yunis, Gaza on August 21, 2025. . (Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Famine has been determined in Gaza Governorate, where Gaza City is located, according to a warning issued Friday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
The report from IPC — a global initiative monitoring hunger with the backing of governments, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations — projected famine would expand to Deir al-Balah Governorate, in central Gaza, and Khan Younis Governorate, in southern Gaza, by the end of September.
The IPC itself doesn’t issue official declarations of famine, but its findings can inform governments and bodies such as the U.N. to make a famine declaration.
The report also found that more than half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing Phase 5 conditions, which are characterized as catastrophic levels of food insecurity. About 1.07 million people, 54% of the population, are facing Phase 4 conditions, characterized as emergency levels of food insecurity.
Between mid-August and the end of September 2025, almost a third of the population — nearly 641,000 people — are expected to face Phase 5 catastrophic conditions and the number of people facing emergency levels will likely increase to 1.14 million, according to the report.
The IPC report stated that, given the inability to classify North Gaza due to barriers reaching the area, the figures in the report are an underestimate. Estimates also exclude any remaining population in Rafah, in southern Gaza, because it is mostly uninhabited, according to the IPC.
The food crisis in Gaza has worsened since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended in March and Israel instituted a blockade on aid into Gaza. An increasing number of deaths due to malnutrition have also been reported and gut-wrenching images have emerged of suffering children and long food lines.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is showing signs it may want to end the war after Zelenskyy spoke by phone with President Donald Trump, White House adviser Steve Witkoff and European leaders on Tuesday.
“During the call, there was a signal from Mr. Witkoff, who was also on the call, that Russia is ready to end the war, or at least to make a first step toward a ceasefire, and that this was the first such signal from them,” Zelenskyy said. “Everyone on the call felt positive about this — that there was some kind of shift.”
Zelenskyy emphasized there were no demands or concrete proposals from the U.S., just discussions, and it’s still unclear to him what exactly Russian President Vladimir Putin told Witkoff.
The Ukrainian president also said he was told that since a meeting with him and Trump already took place, one between Putin and Trump logically followed. “And then a trilateral meeting — the U.S., Ukraine and Russia – should take place,” Zelenskyy said.
The White House officially announced the summit between Trump and Putin will take place in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday.
Prior to the call, Zelenskyy took a more pessimistic tone, saying Putin is preparing for “new offensive operations” despite Friday’s looming peace summit in Alaska — and as Russian forces appear to have scored significant front-line success in eastern Ukraine.
Fierce front-line combat and long-range drone and missile strikes are ongoing as the U.S. and Russia prepare for Friday’s meeting. Ukrainian representatives are not expected to attend, though a source in Zelenskyy’s office told ABC News on Monday that “everything is very fluid.”
Zelenskyy and his officials have gone on a diplomatic offensive ahead of the meeting, seeking to shore up foreign support behind Ukraine’s key demands in any peace deal.
On Monday, Zelenskyy suggested that Putin is not ready to end the fighting, despite Friday’s meeting in Alaska.
The president’s warning came as Russian troops broke through an area of the front north of the important defensive city of Pokrovsk — in the east of the country — advancing at least six miles toward the town of Dobropillia.
The breach could give Russian forces an opportunity to drive a wedge between two Ukraine’s key eastern defensive hubs — Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka — and imperil other cities in the region.
Citing a report from his intelligence and military commands, Zelenskyy said in a statement that Putin “is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war. Putin is determined only to present a meeting with America as his personal victory and then continue acting exactly as before, applying the same pressure on Ukraine as before.”
Zelenskyy said on Telegram on Monday, “So far, there is no indication whatsoever that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a post-war situation. On the contrary, they are redeploying their troops and forces in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations.”
“If someone is preparing for peace, this is not what he does,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy has said Kyiv will not cede any territory to Russia, will not abandon its NATO ambitions and will not allow any limitations on its armed forces.
Among Moscow’s demands are that Ukraine cede several regions — not all of which are controlled by Russian troops — in the south and east of the country, accept curbs on the size and sophistication of its military and be permanently excluded from NATO. Putin also wants all international sanctions on Russia to be lifted in the event of a peace deal.
Russia’s demands, Zelenskyy has said, constitute an attempt to “partition Ukraine.”
Trump on Monday described the coming summit as a “feel-out meeting,” telling reporters, “I’m going in to speak to Vladimir, and I’m going to be telling him, ‘You got to end this war. You got to end it.'”
“And at the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” Trump said.
When asked how he would know if a deal is possible, the president replied, “Because that’s what I do. I make deals.”
ABC News’ Yulia Drozd, Ellie Kaufman, Oleksiy Pshemyskyi, Kelsey Walsh and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Israeli troops shot and killed at least eight Palestinians near a humanitarian aid distribution center in the Rafah, Gaza, early Saturday, according to hospital officials and Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
The deadly shooting occurred at the Al-Alam roundabout near an aid center west of Rafah city at around 6 a.m. local time, according to the health ministry. The area is approximately 1 kilometer from an aid distribution center, which the Israel Defense Forces considers an active combat zone during the night when the site is closed.
The Israeli- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — which is running aid distribution in Gaza — closed its aid distribution sites on Friday, without giving a date on when they would reopen. Palestinians in Gaza remain at risk of extreme starvation and famine, the United Nations and other aid groups have warned.
Since May 27, when the aid distribution centers were established, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more have been wounded while trying to collect food from the sites, Gaza’s Hamas-run Government Media Office said.
The Nasser Medical Complex received four out of the eight deceased victims from the incident so far, a source at the hospital told ABC News.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
The Israel Defense Forces said it “is aware of the reports of casualties.”
“Despite prior warnings that the area is an active combat zone during nighttime hours, several suspects attempted to approach IDF troops operating in the Tel al-Sultan area overnight (Saturday), in a manner that posed a threat to the troops,” the IDF told ABC News when asked for comment. “The troops called out to the suspects to drive them away, but as they continued advancing in a way that endangered the troops, the soldiers responded with warning shots.”
Reverend Dr. Johnnie Moore, the new chairman of GHF, told ABC News this week the organization “can’t control what happens outside” the distribution points and added that there have been incidents, “as one would expect, in a war, outside of our distribution sites.”
According to Moore, GHF — since it was set up 10 days ago — had distributed “10 million meals to Gazans, to thousands and thousands and thousands of people.” The GHF has not specified what it defines as a single “meal.”
