Famine conditions in Gaza have been reversed following a ceasefire and improved aid access, according to a new UN-backed analysis, although the territory remains locked in a severe food and nutrition crisis.
The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment indicates that no areas in Gaza are classified as famine (IPC Phase 5), marking a significant improvement from August 2025, when famine was confirmed amid nearly two years of war, mass displacement and tight Israeli restrictions on supplies.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that famine in Gaza “has been pushed back,” but said that needs are growing faster than aid can enter the territory.
“Far more people are able to access the food they need to survive,” Mr Guterres told reporters at UN headquarters. “We are preparing more than 1.5 million hot meals every day and delivering general food assistance packages across Gaza.”
Still, he said, 1.6 million people – more than 75 per cent of Gaza’s population – are forecast to face extreme levels of acute food insecurity and critical malnutrition risks.
“It breaks my heart to see the ongoing scale of human suffering in Gaza. Families are enduring the unendurable. Children are forced to sleep in flooded tents,” Mr Guterres said.
He urged Israel to open more crossings and withdraw restrictions on critical items.
“We need the removal of red tape, safe routes inside Gaza, sustained funding, and unimpeded access including for NGOs,” he said.
The turnaround has followed a ceasefire that took effect in October, as well as the UN Security Council’s adoption of a comprehensive plan, presented by US President Donald Trump, to end the Gaza war in mid-November, which helped ease access for humanitarian and commercial food deliveries.
Cogat, the Israeli military body responsible for civilian policy in Gaza and the West Bank, quickly rejected the report's finding, calling it a "blatant, biased, and deliberate disregard for the volumes of food that entered during the ceasefire".
The UN and humanitarian groups have accused the Israeli military of blocking aid and using it as a weapon of war.
Between mid-October and the end of November, around 1.6 million people – roughly 77 per cent of Gaza’s population – faced crisis-level hunger or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above). That included more than 500,000 people in emergency (IPC Phase 4) and more than 100,000 still experiencing catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5).
In its August assessment, the IPC had confirmed famine in the northern parts of Gaza, with more than half a million people facing starvation, destitution and acute malnutrition.
At the time, famine was forecast to spread to Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis in the centre and south by the end of September, potentially leaving nearly a third of Gaza’s population – about 641,000 people – in catastrophic conditions.
While the latest findings point to improvement, the overall picture remains bleak. The entire Gaza Strip is classified as being in emergency (IPC Phase 4) through mid-April 2026, the IPC said, reflecting continuing shortages, limited livelihoods and heavy reliance on aid.
The nutrition crisis also persists. Acute malnutrition remains at “critical” levels in Gaza city and “serious” in Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis. North Gaza was not formally assessed due to insufficient data, but aid agencies operating there report persistently high numbers of malnutrition cases.
Looking ahead, the IPC projects that the number of people facing the most extreme hunger – IPC Phase 5 – could fall sharply to about 1,900 people by April 2026, provided current conditions hold. Even then, around 1.6 million people are expected to remain in crisis or worse.
Over the next year, nearly 101,000 children aged six to 59 months, and 37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women, are expected to require treatment for acute malnutrition.
The IPC cautioned that under a worst-case scenario – including renewed fighting or a halt to aid and commercial inflows, the entire Gaza Strip could again face famine by mid-April 2026, underscoring how quickly the crisis could spiral back to catastrophe.
