(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) A US government-funded hunger monitor has concurred with the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) that famine is taking place in the Gaza Strip.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), which has historically been funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), issued a report on August 22, the same day as the IPC report, stating that famine is ongoing in the Gaza Governorate, which includes Gaza City.
The FEWS Net and IPC reports said that famine is also likely occurring in the North Gaza Governorate and that the situation may even be worse there, but that it couldn’t be officially confirmed due to the lack of data. The report said that famine is projected to begin in the Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah Governorates by the end of September unless immediate action is taken.
Antiwar News for 8/29/25: US-Funded Monitor: Famine Is Taking Place in Gaza, E3 Triggers Iran 'Snapback' Sanctions, and More pic.twitter.com/ISabHux5J9
— Dave DeCamp (@DecampDave) August 29, 2025
“FEWS NET’s classification of current or projected Famine (IPC Phase 5) in three governorates was reached jointly with the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) partnership and independently reviewed by the Famine Review Committee (FRC),” FEWS Net said in its report.
The FEWS Net report also made clear that Israel was responsible for the famine in northern Gaza and cited the Israeli government’s own data to say that no food was allowed into the area from March to May. “After 22 months of war, repeated mass displacements, the destruction of nearly all essential infrastructure, and extreme restrictions on the entry of food, northern Gazans have long exhausted their coping capacity,” Fews Net said.
The US-funded hunger monitor also said that Israel’s plans to take over Gaza City will only make the situation worse. “The confinement of the population, density of overcrowding amid scarce shelter, and increasing strain on extremely limited humanitarian and healthcare services are all expected to worsen in the lead-up to Israel’s plan to forcibly displace the entire population of Gaza City by October,” FEWS Net said.
The report noted the killing of Palestinians near aid distribution sites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an effort strongly supported by the Trump administration. “Over 700 deaths linked to the distribution of aid were reported across the Gaza Strip in July alone, including 390 in or near GHF distribution sites in the south,” FEWS Net said.
Antiwar.com asked the State Department if it agreed with or rejected the findings of FEWS Net. A State Department spokesperson pointed to President Trump’s earlier comments that “starvation” was taking place in Gaza and said that the administration will “neither use nor legitimize data from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) and we are seeking clarification on if and how any of that was used in IPC reporting.”
The Famine Review Committee report on the famine determination listed Gaza Health Ministry mortality data as one of its many sources used to determine that famine was taking place, noting that surveys and indirect evidence suggest the ministry’s numbers are likely a significant undercount, which aligns with studies of the death toll in Gaza.
“Multiple surveys of the population in Gaza indicate that the Ministry of Health facilities-based mortality fails to fully capture non-trauma mortality,” the report reads. “The high numbers of malnourished children and mothers of young children unable to access appropriate diets or nutrition treatment, in combination with environmental conditions detailed in this report, are known to exacerbate fatality rates among the malnourished. These indirect sources of evidence indicate a much higher mortality rate than malnutrition deaths reported by the Ministry of Health, providing reasonable evidence that mortality thresholds for famine have been passed.”
While the State Department didn’t outright reject the report, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has boosted Israel’s claims that the IPC report was an “outright lie.”
FEWS Net was suspended by the Trump administration during its review of foreign aid, but was relaunched back in June. The hunger monitor was first established by USAID in the 1980s and is now likely funded directly by the State Department since the Trump administration has merged USAID’s remaining operations with the State Department.
Last year, FEWS Net issued a report warning that famine was imminent in northern Gaza due to an Israeli blockade, but it was retracted due to pressure from the Biden administration. Then-US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew blasted the report as “irresponsible.”
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
