"Highly Misleading": Israel Slams UN-Backed Gaza Hunger Report

Israel on Thursday dismissed a UN-backed report that said nearly half a million Gazans faced "catastrophic" hunger, alleging the assessment was "misleading" and "biased".

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership, released Tuesday, said its March warning of imminent famine in the north of the Palestinian territory had not materialised.

"However, the situation in Gaza remains catastrophic and there is a high and sustained risk of famine across the whole Gaza Strip," the report said, warning against any complacency.

"This report is highly misleading. It's biased," Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said on Thursday, partly because "it's based upon data from Hamas's own health institutions".

Gaza's Hamas-run government produces data on the war that Israel has disputed in the past, such as its death count, but that has generally been accepted by international media and aid organisations.

"Claims regarding starvation ... in Gaza are baseless," Mencer added. "Their main purpose of course was to exert pressure on Israel."

The IPC report said around 495,000 people in Gaza are still facing "catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity".

Another 745,000 people are classified as in a food security emergency.

The UN's World Food Programme said the new report "paints a stark picture of ongoing hunger".

"The improvement shows the difference that greater access can make. Increased food deliveries to the north and nutrition services have helped to reduce the very worst levels of hunger, leaving a still desperate situation," it said.

But it warned that in the south of Gaza, the situation was getting worse.

"Hostilities in Rafah in May displaced more than a million people and severely limited humanitarian access," it said.

The IPC is an initiative involving over 20 partners, including governments, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations.

Israel had dismissed the IPC's previous hunger report in March, stating it contained inaccuracies and questionable sources.

The war started with Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,765 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from Gaza's health ministry.

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