Famine officially declared in Gaza City by UN backed body

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has stated that famine is taking place in the “Gaza Governorate”.

The area includes Gaza City, which is home to around 500,000 people, surrounding towns and various refugee camps.

Rejecting the findings of the UN-backed reports, Israel refuted existence of a famine in Gaza and claimed it was "Hamas lies". It has also said Gaza will be destroyed if Hamas does not agree to disarm and release all hostages.

In response Jan Egeland, secretary council of the Norwegian Refugee Council, disputed Israel's famine denial and said it had been "lying" about the situation in Gaza.

"It's the global authority on famine that is declared this now in Gaza. It is the truth, as it has also been verified by British and other Aid workers and doctors inside Gaza," he said.

Mr Egeland described the famine as "biblical" and "man-made by Israel from A to B."

"They control the borders, they control all aid coming in, or they rather they block all of the aid coming in and they are bombing this starved population that they have trapped inside the small Gaza Strip now for nearly two years" he said.

"So it's just unbelievable that the Western powers that say that they are allies to and supporters of Israel have not been able to stop this carnage."

Mr Egeland further described Western powers as "astoundingly impotent" and called on the United States to apply more pressure on Israel.

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"This is no targeted, anti terror operation which the whole world would have supported after the gruesome 7th of October in Israel. This is disproportional warfare and starvation of the same time," he added.

Since the start of the war, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry reported that 271 people have died of "famine and malnutrition" - including 112 children.

The IPC is a globally recognised system for determining the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition and has been used to declare just four famines since being created in 2004.

Under its strict criteria, at least 20 per cent of households must face an extreme lack of food, with at least 30 per cent of children suffering acute malnutrition, for famine to be decared.

And two people for every 10,000 must die each day due to “outright starvation”.

It raised its classification to Phase 5 - the highest and worst level of its food insecurity scale.

By the end of September, the IPC said that more than 640 000 people will be in the Phase 5 classification.

“After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions, characterised by starvation, destitution and death,” an IPC briefing shared with the Telegraph stated.

The famine is projected to spill out to the governorates of Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month, it added.

An additional 1.07 million people – more than half of Gaza’s population – are already facing “emergency” levels of food insecurity, the second-highest level on the scale, the briefing continues.

According to the IPC, access to food in Gaza remains "severely constrained" and by July the number of households reporting very severe hunger doubled across the territory compared to May and more than tripled in Gaza City.

More than one in three people (39percent) indicated they were going days at a time without eating, and adults regularly skip meals to feed their children.

Meanwhile, malnutrition in children is accelerating at a "catastrophic rate" with more than 12,000 identified as acutely malnourished in June.

That month, the UN warned a generation of children in Gaza face "malnutrition, catastrophic food insecurity and famine" unless more humanitarian aid enters the Strip without restrictions.

The UN has described the situation as "beyond catastrophic".

Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN's World Food Programme, has called on Israel to "get in and get in at scale" aid deliveries without limits.

"We can't wait for this.

"We need safe, unfettered, clear access all the way in and we're not getting that right now," she said.

She stressed that people in Gaza are "starving, they're hungry, they're doing what they can do to feed their families".

The UN system has struggled to bring in aid after Israel slightly eased its total blockade of the territory.

Groups claim Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.

Experts have previously warned that the territory is at risk of full-blown famine if more aid is not brought in.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it's the only way to disarm Hamas and free the remaining Israeli hostages.

On Thursday, he ordered talks to end the war with Hamas and free the hostages still in Gaza.

But he said he’s still approving an assault on Gaza City in a move expected to displace up to a million people.

Mr Netanyahu said in a video statement that his military will "take over Gaza City to defeat Hamas."

"At the same time... I have instructed to begin immediate negotiations for the release of all our hostages and an end to the war, on terms acceptable to Israel.

"These two things, defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages, go hand in hand," he added.

Mr Netanyahu continued that he "appreciated the presence of the reserve soldiers and the regular army for this vital goal."

In a separate development, the Foreign Office has summoned Israel's ambassador Tzipi Hotovely to the UK after plans were approved to effectively cut off the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem.

On Thursday, the IDF began calling medical officials and international organisations in the northern Gaza Strip to warn them to leave the area ahead of the expanded operation.

53,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks, according to health authorities in Gaza.