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U.N. officials are calling this a moment of shame as they announce a famine in Gaza City. U.N.-backed food experts are reporting that more than half a million people in the northern Gaza Strip are facing what they call catastrophic conditions. They are urging Israel to agree to a ceasefire and to lift restrictions on aid, but Israel denies there is a famine, and the U.S. blames Hamas for the current situation in the Gaza Strip. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: The lead U.N. humanitarian official Tom Fletcher says the world should be shocked by the report, which he says includes, quote, "irrefutable testimony."
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TOM FLETCHER: It is a famine in 2025. A 21st century famine, watched over by drones and the most advanced military technology in history. It is a famine openly promoted by some Israeli leaders as a weapon of war.
KELEMEN: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls it an outright lie and says the only ones being intentionally starved in Gaza are the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. The State Department says Hamas is promoting a, quote, "false narrative" of deliberate mass starvation to put political pressure on Israel. It also suggests that the authors of the report may have changed the definition for what constitutes a famine. But the World Food Programme's Jean-Martin Bauer says this report was written by well-known experts who have been analyzing food security data for decades.
JEAN-MARTIN BAUER: This is the gold standard in terms of analysis for food security and nutrition worldwide.
KELEMEN: The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, as it's known, ranks food insecurity on a scale of one to five. Northern Gaza is now listed as phase five, a famine, and the report warns that other areas could reach that level in the coming weeks. Lise Grande, who was the Biden Administration's point person on humanitarian aid for Gaza, was stunned to read this.
LISE GRANDE: I did not envision, and I don't think any of us who were in Gaza at the time, envisioned that the situation would become this bad.
KELEMEN: The Trump administration did not fill her job when she left, and rather than working through the U.N., it has backed a new aid program at distribution centers in areas controlled by the Israeli military. Grande wouldn't comment on that, but says there is only one way to reverse this man-made famine.
GRANDE: And the way to reverse it is to get as much aid as possible in as quickly as possible. The key to that is the Israelis need to open up access into the Gaza Strip. That's the solution. Everybody knows it. That has to be the No. 1 priority right now.
KELEMEN: Kate Phillips-Barrasso of Mercy Corps agrees.
KATE PHILLIPS-BARRASSO: We are talking about people starving to death literally miles away from where there are organizations that are desperately trying to provide them this assistance.
KELEMEN: Her aid group has been working in Gaza for decades but hasn't been able to do much in recent months after Israel ended a two-month ceasefire in March. Local staff in Gaza are having a hard time feeding their own family, she says, and the aid they want to deliver can't get through Israeli checkpoints. Phillips-Barrasso wants the Trump administration to push harder for a ceasefire that would allow the aid to flow. At the moment, though, Israel is calling up more reservists for a potential offensive in Gaza City.
KATE PHILLIPS-BARRASSO: With the events going on around Gaza City right now, we're looking at a situation that may accelerate the suffering as opposed to creating the conditions for alleviating it. So the U.S. needs to be involved in figuring this out as soon as possible because we have no time left for the people of Gaza.
KELEMEN: Although he has acknowledged starvation in Gaza, President Trump still backs Israel's position, accusing Hamas of extortion by continuing to hold hostages. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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