Israel demands retraction of UN-backed monitor report on Gaza famine

Israel has demanded the immediate withdrawal of a report by a UN-backed monitor on famine in parts of the Gaza Strip, with Foreign Ministry Director General Eden Bar Tal dismissing it as “fabricated” on Wednesday.

He accused the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative of producing a politically motivated result through methodological violations.

The IPC initiative, whose members include nearly two dozen United Nations organizations and aid groups, declared last week that the criteria for famine had been met in the Gaza Governorate, which includes Gaza City.

It said a further 70% of the Gaza Strip’s 2 million inhabitants are unable to meet their food needs, projecting that famine will expand to two other central governorates, Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, by the end of September.

Some 132,000 children under the age of 5 are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by June 2026 – double the IPC estimate from May – with 41,000 of them considered particularly vulnerable, it reported.

Israel says if the report is not revised within two weeks, it will present evidence of its alleged inaccuracies to the IPC’s financial backers and urge them to withdraw funding for the initiative.

In a letter to IPC programme director Jose Lopez, Bar Tal called the report “deeply flawed” and “unprofessional,” adding that it failed to meet the standards expected of an international body with such serious responsibilities.

Israel “categorically rejects” the findings, he wrote, accusing the authors of supporting “Hamas’ fake starvation campaign.”

In its letter, the Foreign Ministry listed several points that, from Israel’s perspective, prove the report’s inaccuracy. In recent weeks, aid deliveries had “flooded” the area with basic foodstuffs, he claimed.