Monday, 22 December 2025, 4:58 pm
Press Release: UN News
19 December 2025
According to the
latest IPC
report – a global tracking of malnutrition and food
insecurity – no areas of Gaza are currently classified as
being in famine (IPC
Phase 5), following improved humanitarian and commercial
access after the 10 October ceasefire.
However,
nearly the entire Gaza Strip remains in emergency (IPC
Phase 4), with hundreds of thousands of people still
experiencing very high acute malnutrition
rates.
Between mid-October and the end of November,
around 1.6 million people – roughly 77 per cent of the
population analysed – faced crisis-level hunger (Phase 3)
or worse. This included more than 500,000 people in
emergency (Phase 4) and over 100,000 people in catastrophe
(Phase 5), the report said.
Gains
‘perilously fragile’
UN Secretary-General António
Guterres said the latest findings show progress,
but warned that the gains remain “fragile – perilously
so.”
“Famine has been pushed back. Far
more people are able to access the food they need to
survive,” he told reporters at UN Headquarters, in New
York
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He added, however, that 1.6 million people in
Gaza – more than 75 per cent of the population – “are
projected to face extreme levels of acute food insecurity
and critical malnutrition risks.”
The IPC analysis
projects that through mid-April 2026, around 571,000 people
will remain in emergency conditions, while approximately
1,900 people are expected to continue facing
catastrophe-level hunger. Under a worst-case scenario –
including renewed hostilities or a halt in humanitarian and
commercial inflows – the entire Gaza Strip could again
face famine.
Malnutrition major
concern
Malnutrition remains a major
concern, particularly among children and pregnant and
breastfeeding women.
Nearly 101,000
children aged six to 59 months are expected to suffer from
acute malnutrition through mid-October 2026, including more
than 31,000 severe cases. An estimated 37,000 pregnant and
breastfeeding women are also projected to require
treatment.
While food aid has increased, the report
stresses that assistance is largely meeting only basic
survival needs. Health services, water and sanitation
systems, housing and livelihoods remain badly damaged,
leaving families vulnerable – particularly during
winter.
‘Truly durable’ ceasefire
needed
“Families are enduring the
unendurable,” Mr. Guterres said, describing children
sleeping in flooded tents and buildings collapsing under
heavy rain and wind.
He said humanitarian teams are
preparing more than 1.5 million hot meals daily, reopening
nutrition centres and restoring water and health services,
but warned that needs continue to grow faster than aid
delivery.
“We need a truly durable
ceasefire,” he said, calling for more crossings
into Gaza, fewer restrictions on critical supplies, safe
routes within the Strip, sustained funding and unimpeded
humanitarian access.
The IPC report underscores that
without sustained and expanded access, continued aid and the
rebuilding of essential infrastructure, Gaza’s food
security situation could rapidly deteriorate again, with
long-lasting consequences for an already traumatized
population.
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