Israel has announced a series of steps meant to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Gaza, after world leaders — including allies of Israel — issued harsh condemnations of the crisis over the past week.
Up until recently, Israeli officials argued that there was no serious hunger crisis in Gaza, but that position appeared to shift in recent days as new evidence emerged that many Gazans are facing imminent starvation.
What changed, what is Israel doing about it, and how is the world responding?
What’s changed in Gaza?
Throughout the war, international organizations have issued repeated warnings claiming that Gaza was on the brink of famine. However, up until now, this worst-case scenario never materialized, and these agencies often walked back their statements later. This time appears to be different, though.
Aid agencies and world leaders, including leaders friendly with Israel, have said in recent weeks that they’re now actively witnessing widespread cases of malnutrition and even deaths due to starvation in Gaza.
The IDF has also acknowledged that “there are issues of access to food,” although it still asserts that there isn’t a full-blown famine in Gaza.
“This war is complex. Its cost is painful on both sides,” IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin said on Sunday. “Let us not forget, the tragedy that Hamas inflicted on both the people of Israel and the people of Gaza, by launching a war and embedding itself within civilian areas, must not be ignored. In this war, Hamas has exploited its own population — seizing humanitarian aid to continue its operations, and weaponizing their suffering to serve its own agenda.”
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recognized as well on Monday that the situation in Gaza is “difficult,” but added that Hamas has been “releasing unverified numbers to the news media while circulating images that are carefully staged or manipulated.”
Prof. Yannay Spitzer, an economic history professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, warned that the current situation is “radically different from anything that has happened so far.”
“Without immediate change, a situation of mass starvation seems inevitable,” Spitzer said. He explained that he’s been monitoring the price of flour, the most basic food product in Gaza, to track the availability of food in the Strip.
According to Spitzer, before the war, a 25-kg (55-pound) bag of flour, enough to feed an average household for 10 days, cost about NIS 47.5 (about USD $14). Throughout the war, that price went up and down, reaching as high as NIS 500 (about USD $148) in January 2025 and dropping back to NIS 50 (about USD $15) during the ceasefire from January to March. Spitzer stressed that now, however, the cost of flour has reached unprecedented prices, with one bag costing NIS 3,750 (about USD $1,100), an 80-fold increase compared to pre-war prices.
“There is no doubt that very few households will be able to sustain themselves under such a shortage for more than a few days,” Spitzer said.
A new assessment released on Tuesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global initiative that provides information on food insecurity and malnutrition, warned that many parts of Gaza are experiencing famine levels of hunger.
The IPC refrained, however, from making a formal declaration of a famine in Gaza. Such a declaration has only been made in rare cases, including once in parts of Somalia in 2011 and in parts of South Sudan in 2017. Famine or famine-likely declarations were again made in South Sudan in 2020 and parts of Sudan in 2024.
The IPC uses three thresholds to determine whether or not an area is experiencing a famine: acute food insecurity (food deprivation and livelihood collapse), acute malnutrition, and increased mortality. For an official declaration of famine, there needs to be clear evidence of at least two of the three thresholds being reached.
At the moment, the IPC has determined that most of Gaza is experiencing acute food insecurity at famine levels, but it isn’t yet experiencing famine levels of acute malnutrition or mortality. An exception is Gaza City, which is experiencing famine levels of acute malnutrition, according to the IPC.
According to the assessment, one in three Gazans goes without food for days at a time, with the proportion of households experiencing extreme hunger doubling from May to July.
The IPC has been mistaken in the past, although that error concerned predictions about future scenarios, not ongoing situations. In March 2024, the IPC warned that a famine was imminent in Gaza, but two months later said it was mistaken in its assessment since more food had been let in than it predicted.
Last week, over 100 aid agencies and human rights groups signed a joint statement warning of “mass starvation” across Gaza and calling on Israel to allow much more aid in.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters last Wednesday that his organization has seen a “deadly surge in malnutrition-related deaths.”
The WHO chief added that 95% of Gazan households can’t access the minimum amount of water needed for drinking, cooking, and hygiene.
The Agence France-Presse also said its journalists in Gaza were struggling to access food, suffering from exhaustion and malnutrition that prevented them from continuing to report.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza reported over 40 hunger-related deaths over the past month, including at least 16 children. Independent sources haven’t been able to verify that information as of yet.
Why has the situation changed?
The exact reasons for the worsening of the humanitarian situation are disputed.
In early March, the Israeli government decided to implement a total blockade of Gaza, ending the entry of humanitarian aid. That blockade continued until May when the entry of aid resumed at a very low rate, until the Gaza Humanitarian Fund began operations later that month.
Israeli officials say the main reason for the current crisis is the failure of international organizations to distribute humanitarian aid that has crossed into Gaza. The IDF published footage over the last week showing piles of aid waiting on the Gaza side of the border for pickup by aid agencies.
Israel has also claimed that about half of the trucks that are taken for distribution are looted before they get to their destination.
Aid agencies argue, however, that they’ve been unable to distribute the food due to the dangers of operating amid the intensified operation launched by Israel in recent months and the chaos that’s erupted due to the lack of any stable civil authority in Gaza.
A source in the IDF told Israel’s KAN national broadcaster over the weekend that the aid mechanism in place “simply doesn’t work” and isn’t fully regulated.
“The trucks are stuck, there’s a mechanism that doesn’t work, there’s a problem with the quality of the delivery routes, and the coordination isn’t working either,” the source added. “We have the largest food warehouse in existence here. If the goods that are there today aren’t collected, we’ll remove and bury the equipment.”
International agencies and world leaders have pointed to the Gaza Humanitarian Fund as a central factor in the crisis.
In late May, former United States and Israeli officials and security contractors worked in coordination with the U.S. and Israeli governments to start operations of the GHF in Gaza. The organization established several food distribution sites, mostly in southern Gaza.
Israeli and American officials said the new mechanism was meant to prevent Hamas from stealing humanitarian aid, which they claim was an issue with existing aid distribution systems handled by the United Nations and other international agencies. While at first the GHF was presented as a replacement for other aid systems, it quickly shifted to being a supplementary mechanism to the other systems, operating almost solely in southern Gaza.
The new mechanism has faced many issues, however.
There are only a handful of sites servicing Gaza, and they’re located far from population centers. The distribution sites are also plagued by chaos, with massive crowds rushing toward aid each morning. People are trampled underfoot, and only the strongest can get food before it’s all gone, meaning those who need help the most often don’t get anything.
The crowds also spill over into areas surrounding the distribution sites, where IDF soldiers are deployed. The soldiers can’t risk allowing massive crowds to head toward them, so they fire warning shots, the only crowd dispersal measure they’re equipped with. With the crowds as dense as they are, this has inevitably led to deaths and injuries.
In comments to Israel’s N12 news channel, the GHF stressed that “the root of the problem is simple: not enough aid is getting into Gaza. When there is not enough food, people become desperate, and anarchy develops.”
The GHF placed the central responsibility for the crisis on Hamas and the U.N., but also criticized Israel. “We appreciate the coordination with the IDF and the recent efforts to improve civilian access, but more can and should be done to enable safe humanitarian corridors that will allow civilians to reach aid without fear. Israel has made a moral and strategic decision to bring more aid into Gaza — but it is important that this aid also actually reaches its destination. GHF is prepared for this — we just need the space to operate.”
Concerning the small number of distribution sites it has, the GHF stressed that it has plans to open more but would need more donor funds to do so: “The first four points of GHF are not intended to be the only mechanism — but to operate alongside other distribution mechanisms, and this was made clear to all parties from day one.”
The GHF also said it was working to deal with the problem of only the strong getting food by establishing community distribution mechanisms through local organizations and families.
Israel has also accused Hamas of stealing a significant portion of the aid sent into Gaza.
The IDF Spokesperson for Arab media, Avichay Adraee, published footage showing Hamas members boasting about their meals inside the tunnels, arguing that this proved there was food entering Gaza.
“While Hamas leaders and their criminal [Muslim] Brotherhood media mouthpieces accuse Israel of false starvation, this footage shows members of the organization boasting about their meals inside the tunnels. How can a belly bloated with satiety speak of famine?” Adraee said.
An internal analysis conducted by USAID in June reportedly found no evidence of systematic theft of aid by Hamas. The New York Times also reported, citing two unnamed Israeli military officials, that Israel had found no evidence of a systematic theft of aid.
The IDF has rejected the reports. On Tuesday, it published footage showing armed men, whom it identified as Hamas terrorists, looting humanitarian aid last week.
Whether or not Hamas is the one stealing aid, all sides agree that a significant portion of the aid entering Gaza is being looted before it reaches the people who need it most. Products bearing U.N. and GHF logos have been frequently spotted in Gaza’s markets, as gangs and merchants resell food that was given out for free at exorbitant prices.
Prof. Spitzer explained that part of the problems that led to the current situation may have been that Israel was relying on purely quantitative data without paying enough attention to the situation on the ground in Gaza.
During the ceasefire earlier this year, he said, enough food entered the Strip that it should have been enough until the summer. However, in reality, the supplies ran out much earlier than expected.
Spitzer stressed that theft by Hamas can’t be totally responsible for the difference because the terrorist movement doesn’t have the capacity to store the amount of food that’s missing. There are several other possible reasons for the discrepancy between the amount of food that went in and how long it lasted, such as waste, a higher rate of consumption than expected, or families who hoarded food.
“Israel woke up late to discover a real crisis and responded to it clumsily because it relied on quantitative data. [The data] told it that it couldn’t be that the situation was already acute. In addition, 22 months of false propaganda about starvation caused decision-makers, the media, and public opinion in Israel to ignore the evidence from on the ground,” Spitzer stressed.
Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur argued as well that throughout the war, international organizations had repeatedly claimed Gaza was either experiencing a famine or nearing a famine, but that famine never materialized.
He added, however, that this time it appears that “We are very close to real, actual, desperate hunger in Gaza,” but that “it’s hard to convince Israelis of that because literally everything said to them [by the international community] for 22 months on this topic has been a fiction.”
“There’s not been any kind of real conversation about the facts,” Gur said. “The facts were pretty much with the Israeli war effort. The facts are turning against the Israelis now in a big way and what is Amnesty now going to do, declare there’s a terrible famine again? It’s done that 17 times and it was a lie several times. The facts have not been part of the debate and that’s a shame because now I really need to kick Israelis in the pants to wake them up, but they’re so used to being lied to on these things that it’s difficult. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to do it, we’re going to do it, but that’s the obstacle to doing it.”
Israel announces new aid measures
As international pressure rose, Israel announced a series of new steps meant to help alleviate the crisis on Saturday.
The first step was the return of airdrops of aid by the IDF and by other countries, such as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Over the past few days, dozens of pallets of food have been parachuted into the Strip.
The IDF also declared it would implement humanitarian ceasefires in population centers throughout Gaza from the morning until the evening. The ceasefires are meant to make the distribution and collection of aid safer for international agencies and Gazans.
In addition, Israel also connected a desalination plant in Gaza to its power grid. The plant is expected to supply enough water for about 900,000 people. Israel also approved a plan by the UAE to connect Gaza to a desalination plant in Egypt, providing water for another 600,000 people.
Israelis split on how to respond to the situation
The presidents of five Israeli universities — the Weizmann Institute, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion, Tel Aviv University, and the Open University — published a letter on Monday calling on Netanyahu to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“Together with increasing parts of the country’s residents, we watch with horror the scenes coming from the Gaza Strip, including of infants, dying every day of hunger and disease. The release of the hostages and the reduction of harm to our soldiers are paramount goals, but as a people who were victims of the terrible Holocaust in Europe, we also have a special obligation to act by all means at our disposal to prevent and avoid cruel and indiscriminate harm to innocent men, women, and children.”
“We are appalled by statements by ministers and members of Knesset that encourage the deliberate destruction of the Gaza Strip, and the displacement of the civilian population from it,” the university presidents added. “We expect a clear and unequivocal condemnation from you, and from the government, of these harsh statements, as this is a clearly immoral call to carry out acts that, in the opinion of senior jurists in Israel and around the world, constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Israeli journalist Ron Ben-Yishai warned that the current humanitarian situation is “a moral problem that we as Jews cannot live with” and “the most serious catastrophe that has happened to us in terms of our standing on the international stage since the October 7 massacre.”
In an article headlined “There are hungry children in Gaza. We need to admit it — and immediately change the distribution of aid,” Ben-Yishai argued that the GHF system was failing, primarily due to the chaos at distribution sites.
“The weak, sick Gazans, children and women, return from the distribution centers empty-handed — and watch with tearful eyes as shrewd merchants display the food looted from the distribution centers for sale in baskets laden with all sorts of goodies, at exorbitant prices in the markets of Gaza City or Deir al-Balah,” Ben-Yishai wrote.
Ben-Yishai stressed that while Hamas’ claims of starvation were false for most of the war, in recent weeks, the diversion of supplies to the faulty GHF system and the failure or inability of other aid organizations to distribute aid have now given factual validity to those claims.
The journalist called for Israel to either let international organizations resume control of aid distribution or establish many more GHF hubs with new, better-organized distribution methods to prevent the current chaos.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar referred to international condemnations of Israel in recent days as a “distorted campaign” during a press conference on Tuesday.
“This campaign fuels the wave of antisemitism that we are witnessing. When they demand: End this war. What does it really mean? Ending the war while Hamas remains in power in Gaza. That will be a tragedy for both Israelis and Palestinians. This is why they took the hostages in the first place: To try to impose their will on Israel. It ain’t gonna happen. No matter how much pressure is put on Israel.”
Sa’ar stressed that the spike in international pressure has “already caused Hamas to harden its position” in negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire and a hostage deal.
“This pressure is directly sabotaging the chances for a ceasefire and hostage deal. It is only pushing towards military escalation by hardening Hamas’s stance,” the foreign minister said. “Everyone who is worried about the humanitarian situation must ask himself: Who is responsible for the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza? Who is responsible for this war and its continuation? There is only one, clear answer: Hamas. Hamas initiated the war with its October 7th massacre. Hamas is responsible for the war’s continuation by refusing to release our hostages – we still have 50 hostages in Gaza – and refusing to lay down its arms. The international pressure must not be on Israel. It must be on Hamas.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the decision to expand humanitarian aid to Gaza a “shame and disgrace” and a “surrender to Hamas’ false campaign.”
“I will fight this decision. I think the introduction of aid is stupid and delusional; it is wrong and it harms our soldiers. This is a very serious mistake,” Ben-Gvir said.
The national security minister called for a complete halt on humanitarian aid, the occupation of the entire Gaza Strip, and a plan to pressure Palestinians to leave Gaza.
World leaders, including close allies, issue unprecedented condemnations of Israel
In light of the deteriorating situation, the United Kingdom, Canada, and 26 other Western countries, including many that are friendly with Israel, put out a joint statement last week demanding an immediate end to the war and an increase in aid.
“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,” said the 28 world leaders. “The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability, and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.”
“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” added the countries, calling for an immediate lift on restrictions on humanitarian aid, as well as the release of hostages still being held by Hamas.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, warned last week that “The images from Gaza are unbearable,” reiterating the European Union’s call for the “free, safe and swift flow of humanitarian aid and for the full respect of international and humanitarian law.”
“Civilians in Gaza have suffered too much, for too long. It must stop now,” von der Leyen added, demanding that Israel deliver on pledges it made to increase the flow of humanitarian aid.
The European Commission proposed on Monday to partially suspend Israel from the European Union’s Horizon science research program due to the situation in Gaza.
The Commission stressed that the suspension is “targeted and reversible” and “does not affect the participation of Israeli universities and researchers in collaborative projects and research activities under Horizon Europe.” Member states of the EU will need to make a final decision on the matter separately.
On Tuesday, the British Prime Minister’s Office warned that the U.K. would recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly in September, unless Israel takes “substantive steps” to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and commits to “a long-term sustainable peace.”
Among the steps the U.K. wants to see are a resumption of U.N. humanitarian aid to Gaza, a ceasefire, and a clear statement by Israel that it will not annex territory in the West Bank.
U.S. President Donald Trump also expressed concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza on Monday during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“Some of those kids…that’s real starvation stuff, I see it. You can’t fake that. We’re gonna be even more involved,” Trump said, adding that Israel “has a lot of responsibility” for the situation in Gaza. “They’re hampered by the fact that you still have 20 hostages or so.”
Trump added that he would work with European partners to set up more food distribution centers for Gaza.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance also demanded action from Israel saying, “Israel’s got to do more to let that aid in and we’ve also got to wage war on Hamas so that those folks stop preventing food from coming into this territory.”
“I don’t know if you’ve all seen these images. You have got some really, really heartbreaking cases. You’ve got little kids who are clearly starving to death,” Vance said.
World Central Kitchen founder and chef José Andrés also demanded action in an op-ed in The New York Times on Sunday, stressing that the hunger in Gaza is “a man-made crisis, and there are man-made solutions that could save lives today.”
“The hunger catastrophe in Gaza is entirely caused by the men of war on both sides of the Erez crossing: the ones who massacred Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ones who have been killing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in the more than 21 months since,” Andrés said. “We are far beyond the blame game of who is the more guilty party. We don’t have the time to argue about who is holding up the food trucks. A starving human being needs food today, not tomorrow.”
The WCK founder stressed that Israel, as the force in charge of Gaza, is responsible for the basic survival of civilians in Gaza. “Some people may find this unfair, but it is international law.” He rejected claims that Hamas was stealing aid, saying that before Israel started seriously blockading humanitarian aid earlier this year, “our convoys experienced very little violence or looting.”
“After the blockade was lifted, the situation worsened significantly, with widespread looting and anarchy. It is rare now for trucks entering Gaza to make it safely to our kitchens or those of other aid groups without being looted. Drivers and kitchen workers are often attacked by armed groups of unknown origin. The blockade that was supposed to pressure what’s left of Hamas only strengthened these gunmen and gangs. It precipitated mass deprivation and the collapse of society in Gaza.”
Andrés noted that the WCK has also provided aid to Israel, including for Israelis who lost their homes during the war with Iran in June. He called for the opening of humanitarian corridors and a substantial increase in the production of hot meals.
“Unlike bulk food supplies, hot meals have little resale value for organized gangs,” he explained.
The chef proposed the establishment of five large cooking facilities in safe zones to provide one million meals a day to Gazans. He stressed, however, that this plan wouldn’t be sufficient on its own to deal with all of Gaza’s needs and that other aid groups need to be able to operate in their own way.
“I understand that many Israelis are still grieving and are focusing first on their own. On the long list of those who continue to suffer, there are the surviving hostages, the traumatized families and the wounded soldiers. We have seen in the past several months how Israel is able to pursue what it sees as its national interest with courage. The challenge of feeding starving Palestinians is no different.”
“We are approaching the Jewish fast of Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the destruction of two holy temples in Jerusalem. It is a solemn day of suffering and remembrance,” Andrés added. “The Book of Isaiah reminds us that fasting is not enough. The true fast is to share our bread with the hungry and give our clothes to the naked. ‘If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness,’ it reads. If we want to light the darkness, we need to extend our soul to the hungry. And we need to do it now.”
