The population of the Gaza Strip underwent a famine as a result of an Israeli blockade during the Gaza war between 22 August 2025 and 19 December 2025. The prevention of basic essentials and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, as well as airstrikes that destroyed food infrastructure, such as bakeries, mills, and food stores, caused a widespread scarcity of essential supplies. Humanitarian aid was also blocked by protests at borders and ports. Increasing societal breakdown in Gaza, including looting, was also cited as a barrier to the provision of aid.
By August 2025, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projections showed that 100% of the population are experiencing "high levels of acute food insecurity", and 32% were projected to face Phase 5 catastrophic levels by 30 September 2025. On 22 August 2025, the IPC said that famine is taking place in at least one of the five governorates in the Gaza Strip: specifically, the Gaza Governorate which includes Gaza City. The IPC added that, within the next month, famine was likely to also occur in both the Deir al-Balah Governorate and the Khan Yunis Governorate. The IPC had insufficient data on the North Gaza Governorate for a classification but concluded that conditions were likely similar or worse than in the Gaza Governorate. Within the next 6 weeks as of 16 August, the number of people in IPC Phase 5 was expected to rise from 500,000 to over 640,000.
On 22 October 2025, the International Court of Justice found that Israel is obliged to guarantee sufficient food to Gazans and to allow UNRWA to operate in Gaza. On 19 December, the IPC published a report declaring that there is no longer a famine in Gaza after improvements in food delivery following the ceasefire, but warned that the situation remains "highly fragile" with 100,000 still facing "catastrophic conditions", although that number was projected to decline to 1,900 by April 2026. As of January 2026, Gazans have received enough humanitarian aid to meet their basic food needs for the first time since the start of the war.
However, in late July 2026, the IPC reported that the scale-up of humanitarian assistance, enabled by the October 2025 ceasefire, has driven improvements in food security and nutrition conditions across Gaza, but that over 1.2 million people (59% of the population of Gaza) continued to face Phase 3 Crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, including 212,000 (about 10% of Gazans) experiencing Phase 4 Emergency levels, and warned that Gaza is still experiencing a severe food emergency that could develop into another famine.
Before the Gaza war
Israel imposed restrictions on movement and goods in the Gaza Strip since the early 1990s. After Hamas took over in 2007, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a blockade on the movement of goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip.
Rhoda Howard-Hassmann argued in 2016 that "thoroughly planned impoverishment" has been a long-term policy of Israel for the Gaza Strip. According to Sara Roy, a leading expert on the Gazan economy,
The current desecration of Gaza is the latest stage in a process that has taken increasingly violent forms over time. In the fifty-six years since it occupied the Strip in 1967, Israel has transformed Gaza from a territory politically and economically integrated with Israel and the West Bank into an isolated enclave, from a functional economy to a dysfunctional one, from a productive society to an impoverished one. It has likewise removed Gaza's residents from the sphere of politics, transforming them from a people with a nationalist claim to a population whose majority requires some form of humanitarian aid to sustain themselves.
In the early 2000s, the Gaza Strip witnessed a period of increasing tensions that had a profound impact on its economic and agricultural sectors. During this time, a relatively small number of Israeli settlers lived in the Gaza Strip, yet they controlled a significant portion of the territory's valuable resources. Settlers had access to about 25% of the Strip, an area that included 40% of Gaza's arable land, as well as a substantial share of its water resources, limiting the availability of land and water for the Palestinian population. After Israel withdrew its settlements from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Palestinian elections were held in 2006, which Hamas won. In response to the election results, Israel designated the governing party and the Gaza Strip as a "hostile entity", implementing a blockade along with economic sanctions and restrictions. As a part of the blockade Israel imposed restrictions on imports of cooking fuel and gas into Gaza. Lists of restrictions were generated based on what Israel defines as 'dual use' goods, items that might be put to military uses threatening Israel's security. These measures are contested internationally and criticized for exacerbating economic and living conditions in Gaza.
Prior to the blockade, Gaza's population stood at 1.6 million, serviced by 400 trucks carrying goods into the Strip every day. Under the new policy, according to the Israeli NGO Gisha, Israel proposed to permit only 106 trucks entry to deliver goods. In the following decades, the number of humanitarian trucks permitted to enter Gaza varied, depending on several factors such as the political situation, security issues, agreements between Israel and Palestinian authorities, and interventions by international organizations. To obtain permission to import any commodity into the Strip, proof had to be supplied that they were indispensable, often causing delays and complications in the supply of humanitarian aid. Under Netanyahu's second premiership, Israel sporadically allowed more humanitarian aid, but tightened it during conflicts with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The blockade was maintained to secure de facto control over Gaza, along with limited economic assistance and humanitarian aid to prevent Israeli reoccupation.
Precise calculations were made to determine the minimum calorific requirement to avoid malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, and these formed the basis for Israel's determination of the truck numbers for food supplies from 2007 to 2010. Dov Weissglas, an advisor to the then Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, explained: "We have to make them much thinner, but not enough to die," the idea being "to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." The calculation excluded factors such as the collapse of agriculture due to the blockade which dried up access to seed markets.
Diplomatic cables subsequently published by WikiLeaks in 2011 revealed that Israel had informed the United States in 2008 that, while it would take measures to prevent a humanitarian crisis, it intended to keep Gaza's economy on the "brink of collapse". Gazans faced extreme poverty due to the blockade; in 2020, according to a report by Steven Devereux of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), "more than half the residents of Gaza survived below the poverty line, two-thirds were food insecure, and three-quarters received international aid, either in cash or as food."
The Goldstone Report discovered that during the 2008–2009 Gaza War, Israel's invasion had caused deliberate and massive destruction of Gaza's agricultural sector. Israel also declared 30% of the most arable land in the Strip no-go zones. After 2012, the Red Cross secured an agreement to allow Gazan farmers to cultivate crops of various heights, in areas respectively at 300 metres to 1 kilometre from Israel's fortified border fence. Both cultivators and their rudimentary irrigation devices nonetheless were often exposed to sniping and automated machinegun fire, and crops along the armistice line were, without warning, sprayed with Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. Likewise, Israel placed severe restrictions on fishing within Gaza's waters—the 20 nautical miles agreed to under the Oslo Accords were unilaterally reduced to nine—with fishable areas demarcated with buoys. In 2009, Israel further reduced this to a 3-nautical-mile limit with the result that 85% of Gaza's fishing water was blocked by Israeli warships. Israeli gunships reportedly fired on local fishermen even within these areas.
In August 2023, it was reported that 12,076 truckloads of authorized goods entered Gaza, reflecting a slight improvement in the volume of goods allowed into the territory compared to previous periods. Despite these inflows, the volume of goods remained insufficient, given the 60% increase in population since 2007 and the escalating needs of the Gazan population.
The humanitarian impact of the blockade is compounded by recurrent hostilities, which not only result in high casualty rates but also further degrade Gaza's already fragile infrastructure. The United Nations and various human rights organizations have repeatedly called for the lifting of the blockade and for increased humanitarian access to alleviate the suffering of Gaza's residents. The situation in 2023, where the region has witnessed the highest number of fatalities since 2005, underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive and lasting solution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Start of crisis
Following the 7 October attack, Israel announced on 9 October 2023 that it was blocking the entry of food and water into Gaza. Because Gaza was already mostly reliant on food aid, the repercussions were felt immediately. On 18 October, Alia Zaki, a spokesperson for the WFP, stated that the population of Gaza was at risk of starvation. Three days later, the UN released a statement saying food stocks were nearly exhausted. By 23 October, Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN WFP, stated people were "literally starving to death as we speak".
On 27 October, a spokesperson for the WFP stated food and other basic supplies were running out. On 3 November, UN officials stated the average Gazan diet consisted of only two pieces of bread per day, and ActionAid stated more than half a million Gazans faced death by starvation. On 11 November, Corinne Fleischer, Middle East regional director of the WFP, stated, "hundreds of people are queueing for hours every day to get bread rations at bakeries," as people were being pushed "closer to starvation."
Damage
Damage to infrastructure
In 2023 and 2024, Israeli airstrikes severely impacted Gaza's food supply, targeting bakeries, agricultural land, and food infrastructure. The damage led to widespread closures and shortages, affecting access to bread, flour, and other food staples. Michael Fakhri, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has stated such actions amount to an Israeli "starvation campaign" waged by destroying Gaza's food system.
In October 2023, Israeli airstrikes targeted bakeries and agricultural sites in Gaza. On 18 October, an airstrike destroyed a bakery in the Nuseirat Camp, killing four bakers. Subsequent strikes hit other bakeries, and by 24 October, many had closed, with those still open facing long lines. By 28 October, a fifth of Gaza's bakeries were destroyed. In early November, Israel bombed one of Gaza City's last bakeries, and UNOCHA reported over half of Gaza's bakeries had been destroyed. By mid-November, no bakeries were operating in northern Gaza, and the last flour mill was bombed. Israeli strikes also damaged fishing ports, warehouses, and farmland, with 22% of farmland destroyed by 12 December.
In 2024, UNOSAT reported 33% of agricultural land was damaged by February. In June, an Israeli missile hit one of Deir al-Balah's two flour mills, also damaging a WFP warehouse. By July, bakeries could not open due to fuel shortages. In October, UNOSAT and the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated 67.6% of Gaza's croplands had been damaged, severely impacting Gaza's food production.
Damage to the environment
There has been extensive environmental damage caused by the ongoing Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (itself a part of the Gaza war), including the destruction of agricultural land, displacement of people, bombing of Gaza, the Israeli blockade, and famine in the Gaza Strip. By March 2024, nearly half of the farmland in Gaza had been destroyed, and by the following January 80% of the tree cover had been destroyed.Israeli bombardment and the blockade have led to a total collapse of Gaza's civil infrastructure, including sewage treatment, waste disposal, water management, and fuel supplies. Water has been polluted by 130,000 cubic metres of sewage being discharged into the sea every day due to Israel cutting off fuel supplies. Groundwater has been contaminated by toxins and munitions and air has been polluted by smoke and particulates from bombing. Soils have been degraded by uprooting trees and contaminated by toxins, munitions, heavy bombing and demolitions. Bombing by the Israeli army has created 50 million tonnes of debris and hazardous material, much of which contains human remains and tens of thousands of bombs. In June 2024, northern Gaza was described as a "wasteland", unable to sustain life.
The size and lasting impact of the systematic and intentional destruction of agriculture in Gaza have led to calls by the research group Forensic Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London, and the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network for the Israeli Government to be investigated for the Rome Statute war crime of ecocide for "widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment".
Emergency and threat of famine
Timeline
November–December 2023
Cindy McCain stated on 17 November that civilians faced the immediate possibility of starvation. Ten days later, McCain stated Gaza was on the brink of famine, as begging for food became the "new norm." On 1 December, an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report, based on a committee of independent experts, placed almost the entire population of Gaza (93% or 2.08 million) at IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse) with 79% in Emergency (IPC Phase 4), and 15% (378,000 people) in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).
On 7 December, the WFP stated 97% of households had inadequate food consumption and 83% in southern Gaza were surviving through "extreme consumption strategies." By 10 December, the UN, international aid organizations, and relief workers in Gaza warned of mass starvation. A representative for Medical Aid for Palestinians stated, "The hunger wars have started." On 15 December, the United Nations estimated nine out of ten residents were not eating food every day.