Statement from Refugees International President Jeremy Konyndyk:
“Famine has now been officially declared in Gaza.
The long warned worst case scenario is now playing out. This is a staggering failure. Principal responsibility for this calamity rests with the Israeli government, whose blockading and obstruction of aid has directly produced this famine. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, also bears direct responsibility for failing to utilize its diplomatic and military leverage to demand an unconditional surge of humanitarian aid. It is a larger failure of global diplomacy as well; this outcome has long been predicted, and yet leaders with leverage over Israel in the United States and Europe consistently failed to intervene to avert the worst.
This formal declaration of famine must now serve as a wake up call to the world. Israel must cease its restrictions on aid and allow UN and NGO professionals safe and unfettered humanitarian access throughout Gaza. And all countries of the world with influence or leverage with the Israeli government must deploy all political and diplomatic pressure at their disposal to enable a robust UN-led famine response.
On August 22, 2025, the Famine Review Committee, a group of independent experts charged with reviewing and validating food insecurity warnings of famine, announced that conditions in Gaza Governorate have now passed the famine threshold. The committee projects that famine will soon spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis Governates. More than 640,000 people, nearly a third of the population, will face famine levels of hunger by the end of September.
The committee also found that without a ceasefire allowing a variety of aid services to access Gaza, “avoidable deaths will increase exponentially.”
Alarmingly, the requirements for declaring famine tend to be lagging indicators, meaning that starvation deaths are continuing and almost certain to grow. The staggering acceleration of acute malnutrition over the past three months is a preview of what will happen with death tolls unless immediate action is taken. Famines gather momentum the longer they are allowed to develop, and this famine is still accelerating.
Any hope of containing this nightmare requires immediate action to open aid access, flood Gaza with food, medicine, water supplies, nutrition assistance, and other basic aid; and to support and protect the operations of the UN and NGO professionals best placed to respond to such emergencies. Today’s declaration underscores that the militarized experiment of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been a calamitous failure, and it is time to let professional humanitarians do their jobs.
Even more alarming, the famine declaration comes as Israel threatens to invade Gaza City while continuing steady attacks across central and southern Gaza with aerial bombardments and tank fire – moves that will undoubtedly kill more innocent civilians and further diminish what little aid is getting to those in dire need.
Ultimately, famine can only be ended through a halt in fighting. Refugees International repeats our longstanding call for Hamas to unconditionally release all hostages and for Israel to cease its brutal collective punishment of civilians in Gaza.
Every famine represents a failure of political will. The world has the tools needed to prevent famines – except when a belligerent party decides otherwise. Israel’s persistent obstruction of aid has long been unlawful. In the face of famine, it is unconscionable. And Israel’s allies around the world are complicit in this obstruction unless they take concerted action to stop it. There is no time to waste.”
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Etant Dupain at edupain@refugeesinternational.org.
