Since the early months of the Israel-Hamas War, international organizations have accused Israel of starving Palestinians and causing widespread malnutrition by cutting off humanitarian aid flowing into the Gaza Strip.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (ipc)—in connection with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (fews net), established by the United States Agency for International Development—issued reports throughout the war warning that famine in Gaza was either “imminent” or had already begun in certain localities.

A review conducted by United Kingdom Lawyers for Israel (uklfi), made public on February 14, found these reports were full of miscalculations and false claims.

• In March 2024, the ipc’s Famine Review Committee warned that a Phase 5 “catastrophe” famine, the ipc’s highest famine classification, was “imminent in northern Gaza.” The report said the famine was likely to begin in mid-March to May 2024.
• An ipc Special Brief released the same month projected 1.1 million people, or half of Gaza, would be in a Phase 5 famine from March 16 to July 15, 2024.
• fews net published a May 2024 analysis saying it was “possible, if not likely” there was an ongoing famine in northern Gaza in April 2024 and insisted famine would “persist through at least July if there is not a fundamental change in how food assistance is distributed and accessed after entering Gaza.”
• An October 2024 ipc Special Snapshot claimed: “About 1.84 million people across the Gaza Strip [about 86 percent of the population] are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity classified in ipc Phase 3 or above (crisis or worse),” and that acute malnutrition was 10 times higher than before the war.
• A November 2024 fews net report warned, “The severity of acute food insecurity in Gaza has sharply worsened since early October, when Israel began to increasingly restrict humanitarian and commercial food.” It added: “Famine (ipc Phase 5) will become the most likely outcome in north Gaza.”
• fews net published a December 2024 Food Security Alert stating, “A Famine (ipc Phase 5) scenario continues to unfold in North Gaza Governorate.” This report was based on outdated data and later taken down.

United Kingdom Lawyers for Israel’s study concluded that based on ipc’s own standards, there was never a famine in Gaza during the war. On top of that, uklfi found that acute malnutrition in Gaza was only slightly higher than before the war.

Errors

uklfi found that reports misclassified data, overestimated the population of northern Gaza, used a false baseline for prewar acute malnutrition, and did not take into account sources of food supply.

The ipc’s March 2024 Special Brief said half of Gaza was going into Phase 5 and claimed the number of food trucks flowing into Gaza had decreased from 150 per day before the war to an average of 60 per day by February 2024. “Consequently, virtually all households are skipping meals every day and adults are reducing their meals so that children can eat,” the report said. But ipc did not provide any sources.

According to official data, uklfi explained, the number of food trucks going into Gaza from 2023 to 2024 actually increased. Data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs showed that the number of food trucks entering Gaza before the war was an average of 75 per day, half of what the ipc claimed. uklfi also said data from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees showed an average of 118 food trucks entering Gaza by March 2024, nearly double the ipc’s claim for February. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis noted that the ipc also did not account for food supplies being airdropped into Gaza.

uklfi found similar problems with the Famine Review Committee’s (frc) report. Both reports gave inaccurate statistics for the amount of food going into Gaza, yet both claimed Gaza was on the edge of a Phase 5 famine.

uklfi also noted that the ipc gave misleading data on Gaza’s water supply. ipc stated: “In February 2024, the water produced from all the water sources in Gaza accounted for only 5.7 percent of the pre-escalation production values.” But this statistic was based on a ratio of the daily average water production and the total potential production of water supply sources for a single week in February and did not factor in all sources. Figures from the following weeks in February that accounted for the missing water sources nearly tripled the original amount and showed there was no dire lack of water.

“All this information was available to the ipc and frc when putting together the ipc March 2024 Special Brief and frc March 2024 Report, yet they claimed that ‘this analysis factors in all data and information available up to 10 March 2024,’” uklfi wrote.

uklfi also found problems with fews net’s reporting. In its December 2023 and March 2024 analyses, fews net claimed that nutritional status indexes coming out of Gaza showed the war was causing a severe increase in malnutrition. But the organization used the comparison of two different metrics to base its claim: a weight-for-height metric from before the war compared to a February 2024 measurement of the muscle and fat mass of the arm of children under 5. They used this to conclude that malnutrition was exponentially higher.

fews net wrote in its March 2024 analysis: “Although an imperfect comparison given different methodologies used, indicatively this suggests a mean estimate nearly 10 times higher than in November [2023] … and over 35 times higher than the 2019–2020 baseline.” uklfi explained, however, that not only were the metrics incompatible, but fews net also compared different age groups.

Over and over, these reports predict a famine that never came. frc’s June 2024 report proves this. Despite having warned that a catastrophic famine would break out by May, frc wrote in June, “the available evidence does not indicate that famine is currently occurring.” Yet it added the caveat that the risk of famine was still “plausible for all areas based on the assumptions set by the analysis team.” In June, the frc also said it “does not find the fews net analysis plausible for the current period” and “is unable to endorse the ipc Phase 5 (Famine) classification for the projection period.”

“There has been no famine, as defined by the ipc, in the Gaza Strip since October 2023,” uklfi wrote in its report. “Acute malnutrition levels are only marginally higher than prewar figures.”

“These errors have led to an exaggerated portrayal of the food security situation in Gaza, which has been used to influence international opinion and policy. While the humanitarian situation in Gaza is undoubtedly serious, the evidence does not support claims of famine or emergency as defined by the ipc,” the report concluded.

Why It Matters

On Dec. 29, 2023, South Africa brought a case to the International Court of Justice (icj), accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians by causing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In its March 28, 2024, Provisional Measures Order, the icj cited the ipc’s March 2024 Special Brief to support a claim that Gaza was facing a famine. The order said the court not only recognized that Gaza was at “risk of famine,” but believed “famine is setting in.”

UN Secretary General António Guterres also quoted the ipc Special Brief to the press on March 15, 2024, saying, “More than half of all Palestinians in Gaza—1.1 million people—have completely exhausted their food supplies and are facing catastrophic hunger.” He added: “This is the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger ever recorded by the Integrated Food Security Classification system—anywhere, anytime.”

Then he criticized Israel for its alleged responsibility for the situation:

This is an entirely man-made disaster—and the report makes clear that it can be halted. … I call on the Israeli authorities to ensure complete and unfettered access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza and for the international community to fully support our humanitarian efforts.

In May 2024, the International Criminal Court (icc) issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes against Palestinians. icc prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan quoted Guterres’s statement to support the charges and claimed, “Famine is present in some areas of Gaza and is imminent in other areas.”

Both these cases were in part based on these false reports.

There was never a famine in Gaza during the war. But international organizations, many pro-Palestinian activities, and even some media outlets continue to spread the idea that Israel is inflicting a deadly famine on Palestinians.

The icj case against Israel is ongoing (it is unlikely to be decided for a few years), and some countries, such as the United States, have rejected the icc warrants for the arrests of Netanyahu and Gallant. However, there is still a large, vocal section of society that regularly decries Israel’s war effort in Gaza and accuses Israel of inflicting starvation and humanitarian deprivation on the Gaza Strip.

An evil spirit is behind these hateful broadcasts. Anti-Semitism is not a new concept, nor is it an idea exclusive to World War ii Nazi Germany.

Resentment and distrust of the Jewish state of Israel is rising again, and there is a powerful author behind this anti-Semitism. To understand, read our article “One Minority Society Loves to Hate.”