The IPC has been warning for months now that Gaza was on the brink of famine. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), an analysis body set up by the US Agency for International Development, assessed that famine conditions were “possible, if not likely” as far back as May 2024.

Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine, and it will likely spread, a global hunger monitor determined on Friday, an assessment that will escalate pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the Palestinian territory.

For an area to be experiencing famine, at least 30 percent of children under 5 must be considered acutely malnourished by height and weight measures. Using the arm circumference method, the I.P.C. said, the accepted threshold dropped to 15 percent.

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,

Israel says "there is no famine in Gaza" after the IPC reports more than 500,000 people in the Strip are facing "starvation, destitution and death".

U.N. Humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher said that the famine that has struck part of Gaza was preventable, blaming the "systematic obstruction" of aid by Israel and demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu let supplies in on a massive scale.

Israel’s defense minister warned on Friday that Gaza City could be destroyed unless Hamas accepts Israel’s terms, as the country prepares for an expanded offensive in the area

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to turn Gaza City "into Rafah and Beit Hanoun," meaning leaving it in ruins, unless the militant group Hamas agrees to Israel's conditions for ending the war.