Tom Joyner
Live reporter

Mayed Hmaid tells me that she sees signs of hunger and starvation every day as part of her job.

She and her Palestinian colleagues run a small makeshift school in central Gaza, organising lessons for local children.

The aid workers do their best to make the classroom feel as normal as possible, but she says she can't help but watch as the children get worse each day.

“They do not have breakfast. They get dizzy from hunger. I want to cry,” she says.

Food prices are still sky high, and “there is nothing healthy like chicken, eggs, good vegetables, fruits,” she adds.

She documents her daily life to hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram.

"I tell stories of hunger while living it myself," she says. "This is the reality we face every day in Gaza."

Tom Joyner
Live reporter

Two weeks ago, we shared the story of Anas al-Masry, who watched from his apartment window as crates of aid parachuted down from the sky - but he could never get any for himself or his family.

Instead, he later found food from the packages being sold at the local market at hugely inflated prices - far beyond the reach of most Gazans.

Now, he says the prices of some foods have dropped, though not by much. He still hasn't received any aid, and has instead spent his savings to stock up on essentials.

He’s sent a photo of two boxes - one filled with spaghetti, yeast and flour, the other with macaroni, rice and corned beef. The total cost, he says, was 3,000 Israeli shekels in cash (£650; $880).

"Of course, there is no meat or any type of poultry," he says.

Freya Scott-Turner
Live reporter

Image source, Aseel

"Five months ago, I weighed 56kg (123lb)," says Aseel, who lives in Gaza City. "Today, I weigh only 46."

Aseel says she hasn't eaten any fruit or meat in months and has spent almost all her savings just to buy basic ingredients to survive.

In early August, Israel said private traders could start bringing food into the territory.

Since then, "many goods have now entered the Strip," says Aseel, but the high prices are "making them out of reach for most people, including me".

Aseel’s sister-in-law - who she lives with - has a one-month-old baby. "She’s been desperately searching for baby formula at a reasonable price." But when they can find it, it costs as much as 180 shekels (£39; $52) per can.

"I have no food stockpile, not even enough to last a week or two," says Aseel. "Like thousands of people, we live day by day."

Israel's claim IPC changed methodology is false, famine expert sayspublished at 13:36 BST 22 August

13:36 BST 22 August

By Merlyn Thomas

As we've reported, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has claimed that the IPC report's methodology has changed.

In its statement the ministry says: "Unbelievably, the IPC twisted its own rules and ignored its own criteria just to produce false accusations against Israel."

But a global expert on famine, Alex de Waal, tells me that this is false.

The executive director of the World Peace Foundation says: "The process and thresholds have NOT changed.

"In Gaza, due to a lack of full data, MUAC (mid-upper arm circumference) was used, which is standard practice, not a lowered or new threshold.

"The IPC has been calling out for better data since December 2023, asking Israel to allow better surveys.

"Israel won't permit humanitarian data collection and then complains about the quality of the data."

The IPC has also rejected Israel's criticism of its methodology.

Here's a reminder of the key news lines from the IPC report on food security in Gaza.

• For the first time, famine has been confirmed in Gaza City by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classifications (IPC)
• A 59-page report from the body says more than 500,000 people in Gaza are facing “starvation, destitution and death”
• We've got a full breakdown of what the IPC found - and how it reached these conclusions
• UN chief António Guterres calls the situation "a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity"
• NGOs around the world have been reacting to the report, with some saying today's findings must be a "wake-up call" for the international community
• Israel, however, rejects the IPC report. Its foreign affairs ministry says the conclusions are "based on Hamas lies", and Israeli military aid body Cogat says the report ignores the "extensive humanitarian efforts undertaken in Gaza"

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Some more reaction to the IPC report now.

ActionAid UK co-CEO Taahra Ghazi describes the current situation as "a deep stain on our collective humanity".

"Let there be no doubt: this is an entirely engineered famine and the direct result of the Israeli authorities’ deliberate blocking of food, water and other humanitarian aid into Gaza, which breaches international humanitarian law," Ghazi says.

Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, says the famine confirmation "isn’t just another wake-up call" but a warning of "what may soon engulf other parts of the Strip".

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk says it's "a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare, and the resulting deaths may also amount to the war crime of wilful killing".

Amjad Al Shawa, director of Palestinian NGO Network, tells the BBC the famine in Gaza is unprecedented as it is "human-made... not a natural catastrophe".

He rejects Israel's statement that the IPC report is one-sided, saying international media needs to be allowed to report in Gaza to witness the situation.

We’re continuing to see reactions from international humanitarian organisations after the IPC’s report confirmed famine in Gaza City.

Save the Children UK says that in the first two weeks of August, 61% of pregnant women and new mothers screened at their clinics have been found to be malnourished - nearly seven times higher than the rate in the first two weeks of March (9%), before aid and goods were almost completely cut off.

Mercy Corps says the confirmation of famine is "the direct result of months of deliberate restrictions on aid, the destruction of Gaza’s food, health, and water systems, and relentless bombardment".

The organisation says it has enough life-saving aid to help 160,000 people - but it has been blocked for months.

"What’s missing is not the ability to respond, but the political will to allow it."

Christian Aid’s Katie Roxburgh says her colleagues have described family members passing out from fatigue, with malnutrition causing their hair to fall out in clumps.

She says it’s "unconscionable that we are now seeing the start of military operations to take over a city in the grip of famine".

Image source, Reuters

Rushdi Abualouf
BBC News Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

More now from our Gaza correspondent, who has been getting reaction from the region to this morning’s news that a famine has been confirmed in Gaza Governorate for the first time, according to a UN-backed food security body.

Families have shared stories of deprivation.

Reem Tawfiq Khader, 41, a mother of five from Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood, says: “The declaration of famine came too late, but it is still important."

"We hope the one billion Muslims around the world will now move to save Gaza’s hungry and sick. We haven’t eaten any protein for five months," she adds.

“Most of the community kitchens that used to distribute meals to the poor have closed because of the blockade. My youngest child is four-years-old – he doesn’t know what fruit and vegetables look or taste like.”

For many Gazans, the recognition of famine is not enough. What matters for them now is whether the world will act to prevent further loss of life.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) say they are "appalled by the latest IPC alert, which confirms the unthinkable: famine is now a deadly reality in Gaza City".

IRC president and chief executive David Miliband says the situation in Gaza is "a damning indictment of the failure to protect civilians and uphold humanitarian law".

Miliband says today's findings "must be a wake-up call for the international community," as without "immediate, unhindered humanitarian access and a ceasefire more lives will be lost to starvation and disease".

"This is not a natural disaster, it is a man-made catastrophe, unfolding in full view of the world and entirely preventable," Miliband says, adding that "without decisive political action, humanitarian aid alone cannot stem the tide of this deepening catastrophe".

Rushdi Abualouf
BBC News Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

An international body has confirmed famine is spreading in Gaza after more than 680 days of war, sparking outrage among Palestinians who say the world’s recognition comes far too late to address the scale of the catastrophe.

Yasser Abdel Ghafour, a field researcher at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, describes the announcement as “a delayed acknowledgement of genocide carried out by Israel in Gaza".

He posts on Facebook: “The world’s recognition of what has happened here comes very late. The real question now is: what will the international community actually do after this declaration?”

For many displaced families, the crisis is painfully personal.

Rajaa Talbeh, 47, a mother of six who fled her home in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district a month ago and now lives in a makeshift tent near the beach, has lost 25 kilograms.

She suffers from gluten intolerance and says she can no longer find food she can eat.

“Before the war, a charity used to help me get gluten-free products, which I could never afford myself,” she says.

“Since the war began, I can’t find what I need in the market, and even when I do, I can’t afford it. Isn’t it enough to face daily bombardment, displacement and living in a tent that shields us neither from the heat of summer nor the cold of winter – and now famine on top of it?”

We're continuing to unpick the findings from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classifications (IPC) report on the food situation in Gaza.

Among its conclusions, the IPC says that the majority of people in the Strip are now at risk of death due to a lack of food.

Over 1.5 million people are now at risk of malnutrition or starvation - with an additional 20% of the population facing what the IPC describes as a "crisis" scenario.

Image source, Reuters

Madeleine McGivern, who has worked in Gaza and Israel as a human rights monitor, says it's difficult for her contacts in the region to put into words what they are witnessing as a result of the lack of supplies in the Strip.

She tells BBC Radio 5 Live that she's heard of "children... just waiting to die and actually expressing a wish to die because it's easier than what they're going through".

"And then on top of that, we come to famine," she continues. "We come to the slow shutting down of a body when it doesn't have the food and the water that it needs. And that in itself is obviously something excruciating, physically and then mentally, to watch."

"What has been enacted to these people in Gaza is, as the UN rightly say, a shame on all of us and will echo for generations."

• As a reminder, Israel has this morning rejected the IPC report, and denies that there is "famine" in Gaza

As we've been reporting, the IPC has confirmed that Gaza Governorate is in Phase 5 of its acute food insecurity scale the highest and worst stage of the scale. What does that mean?

Phase 5 is classed as Catastrophe/Famine.

On its website, the IPC says this phase is reached when: "Households have an extreme lack of food and/or other basic needs even after full employment of coping strategies.

"Starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."

It also says there must be "extreme critical levels of acute malnutrition and mortality". Global food security experts have now found evidence that all of these dire conditions have been reached in Gaza.

Image source, Reuters

The IPC reports contains conclusions from the organisation's Famine Review Committee (FRC). Here's a quick look at what its members said:

• "This is the fifth time the Famine Review Committee has been called to review an analysis on the acute food security and nutrition situation in the Gaza Strip"
• "Never before has the FRC had to return so many times to the same crisis; a stark reflection of how suffering has not only persisted but intensified and spread until famine has begun to emerge"
• "Widespread human suffering is present across the Gaza Strip and the killings of civilians seeking food continue"
• "Increasing reports of malnutrition-related deaths suggest that the most vulnerable in society are beginning to succumb"
• "As this famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed"
• "The scale of the crisis demands a sustained, large-scale, multi-sectoral response - failure to act decisively now will result in an avoidable escalation of the catastrophe"
• "The FRC urgently requests decision makers to exert maximum pressure to achieve a ceasefire"

In response, Israel has repeated its claim that there is no famine in Gaza City, insisting that the IPC report relies on partial, biased data originating from Hamas.

The IPC has explained the broad methodology it used to come to its conclusions and confirm a famine in the Gaza Governorate.

The analysis was carried out by around 50 experts from 19 organisations working on several areas:

• Food insecurity data was collated by combining phone-based surveys and analysing trends of food consumption
• Malnutrition was assessed by field screenings of arm circumferences
• Public health and other "contextual information" was used to estimate mortality, which the IPC says is standard procedure when there is a lack of "reliable data" available on mortality
• Other data on "contributing factors" considered in the report include areas like the conflict itself, displacement, access to markets and prices of goods, water and sanitation and the availability of health and nutrition services
• The IPC says it only analysed three of Gaza's governorates, with Rafah excluded over the area being mostly depopulated and North Gaza lacking the minimum amount of data to meet its evidence requirements
• The report assesses the level of evidence it analysed as "medium" - level two of its three-tier scale for evidential reliability

In its report, the IPC has included a forecast of what it expects to happen in the Gaza Strip over the next month.

The IPC notes that the prevalence of diseases is expected to rise, "including acute respiratory illnesses -driven by seasonality, malnutrition, and crowded living conditions - as well as acute watery diarrhoea, bloody diarrhoea, measles, and polio".

They forecast that between 16 August and 30 September there will be a "modest improvement in humanitarian access," but efforts will "remain hampered" due to large crowds seeking food and essential supplies, "attacks on warehouses, evacuation orders and fuel shortages".

Humanitarian aid delivered by land or via air drops "will remain insufficient to meet the catastrophic and growing needs of the population".

Four of the UN's bodies - FAO, Unicef, WFP and WHO - have reiterated their call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for "unhindered humanitarian access to curb deaths from hunger and malnutrition".

• As a reminder, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry reported that 271 people have died of "famine and malnutrition" since the start of the war - including 112 children

The agencies say "famine must be stopped at all costs," as they voice concern about "the threat of an intensified military offensive in Gaza City and any escalation in the conflict" as it would have devastating consequences for civilians.

In their joint statement, the UN bodies say malnutrition among children in Gaza is accelerating at a catastrophic pace and in July more than 12,000 children were identified as acutely malnourished.

"Nearly one in four of these children was suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), the deadliest form with both short and long-term impacts".

Imogen Foulkes
Reporting from Geneva

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

The UN’s emergency relief coordinator says the famine in Gaza should "shame the world to do better".

Speaking in Geneva, Tom Fletcher says the famine "must spur the world to more urgent action".

And he makes a direct plea to the Israeli government: "My ask, my plea, my demand to Prime Minister Netanyahu and anyone who can reach him: enough, ceasefire."

"Open the crossings, north and south, all of them. Let us get food and other supplies in unimpeded and at the massive scale required. End the retribution."

He says this is a famine - the first ever declared in the Middle East - that could have been prevented, and blamed "systemic obstruction" for preventing the UN getting supplies in.

Asked what he would say to Israel’s government, or members of the Israeli public, who continue to deny that famine is taking place, despite today’s report confirming it, Fletcher says: "I would say to them, as I say to all of you, please read this report. Don't just listen to me."

"Read the report cover to cover, read it again, and be moved to action."

The IPC has rebutted Israel's accusations it cut its normal thresholds for famine for this report.

The answer is technical, but it amounts to different ways of assessing malnutrition, external in children under five depending on what evidence is available.

The IPC says that a 30% threshold is used when an assessment based on weight and height is conducted, but that this measure is not available in Gaza at the moment.

In its absence, a separate measure of the circumference of children's arms is used - which has a threshold declaring famine when 15% of children have arms under a certain size.

The IPC says this standard has been the case for over a decade - and has been used recently to assess famine in Sudan.

It adds that the use of arm circumference "does not represent a 'lowered threshold' in IPC methodology".

"Instead, it demonstrates the continued application of established IPC standards."

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just accused the IPC of publishing a "tailor-made fabricated report to fit Hamas’s fake campaign".

It accuses the organisation of having "twisted its own rules and ignored its own criteria just to produce false accusations against Israel".

The ministry says the IPC "changed its own global standard", halving a threshold of those facing famine from 30% to 15% as well as "totally ignoring its second criterion of death rate". The IPC denies this accusation.

"The entire IPC document is based on Hamas lies laundered through organizations with vested interests," it adds.

The ministry goes on to claim "there is no famine in Gaza" citing 100,000 trucks of aid entering Gaza over nearly two years of war and a recent "sharp decline in food prices".

"Every forecast the IPC has made regarding Gaza during the war has proven baseless and completely false. This assessment too will be thrown into the despicable trash bin of political documents," the statement concludes.