Oxfam reaction to IPC report confirming famine in Gaza Governorate

Reacting to the Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) report published today, which confirms a famine in Gaza Governorate and predicts it will expand to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September, Oxfam’s Food Security and Livelihoods Coordinator, Mahmoud Alsaqqa, said:

“The famine in Gaza is entirely driven by Israel’s near-total blockade of food and vital aid — the horrifying consequence of Israel’s violence and its use of starvation as a weapon of war. This is what our staff and partners have been witnessing for months: people in the Gaza Strip being deliberately starved, relentlessly bombarded, and forcibly displaced — all part of Israel’s genocide.

“Mothers are now too malnourished to nurse their starving babies. People are forced to walk miles across treacherous terrain in search of food, only to be shot at militarized distribution centers. The elderly, under fire and too weak to flee, illustrate the collapse of the humanitarian system and repeated crimes against humanity.

“Despite warnings in July that famine was imminent, Israel has continued to starve Palestinians, denying nearly every request from humanitarian agencies operating in Gaza, preventing them from delivering food and medical supplies that could have stemmed hunger, malnutrition and disease. Oxfam alone has more than $2.5 million worth of life-saving aid, including high-calorie food packages, now sitting in warehouses outside Gaza— blocked at a time when it is needed most.

“The Government of Israel continues its campaign of relentless bombing and its policy of starving people in areas already classified as facing famine, while pressing ahead with plans to forcibly displace the entire population of Gaza City. 

“Other governments that could have done more to stop Israel are complicit in enabling genocide and war crimes through their silence, inaction, and continued supply of arms.

“This famine can be halted. Oxfam calls for an immediate ceasefire, the full lifting of the blockade, and the immediate delivery of large-scale humanitarian aid through all crossings, including those in the north.”