UN-backed Experts Declare Famine in and around Gaza City

THE GUARDIAN: IPC says famine is ‘entirely man-made’ and immediate response is needed or avoidable deaths will soar

An “entirely man-made” famine is taking place in Gaza’s largest city and its surrounding area amid deteriorating conditions that threaten an exponential increase in deaths across the devastated territory, UN-backed experts have declared.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a globally recognised organisation that classifies the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition, found that three key thresholds for famine had been met, signalling a major escalation of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Only four famines have been declared by the IPC since it was established in 2004, most recently in Sudan last year.

“This famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed,” the report says. “The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay – even by days – will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of famine-related mortality. » | Jason Burke and Malak A Tantesh in Gaza | Friday, August 22, 2025

Why are the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church so silent in the face of this heartbreaking tragedy? Why aren’t the leaders speaking out? This is a despicable crime against humanity and our leaders, political and spiritual, just look on! It beggars belief. — © Mark Alexander

The Great Hunger - ARTE

Dec 6, 2023 | Narrated by Liam Neeson. 175 years ago Europe was struck by a devastating famine. The food crisis was triggered when a deadly fungus escaped from South America and destroyed the potato crops. 100,000 people died of starvation and disease in France, Belgium, Holland, Scotland and the Kingdom of Prussia.

In Ireland, where half the population relied on the potato as their main source of food, the impact was even more extreme. One million people died and between 1845 and 1855, two million emigrated. Today Ireland is the only country in the western world with a population lower than it had in the 1840s. The famine had broader repercussions. It caused the fall of the British government led by Robert Peel in 1846, was a catalyst for the revolutions that rocked Europe in 1848 and became the root for the global Irish Diaspora that today numbers 70,000,000 across the world.