UN-backed report confirms famine in Gaza City | BBC News

Gaza City and its surrounding area is now experiencing famine, a UN-backed body of food security experts has confirmed.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which is used by governments and international bodies to identify hunger levels around the world, has raised its classification to Phase 5 - the highest and most severe.

It said that over half a million people across the Gaza Strip are facing "catastrophic" conditions characterised by "starvation, destitution and death".

Israel said the IPC report was based on "Hamas lies". It continues to restrict the amount of aid entering Gaza and has previously denied there is starvation in the territory.

This denial is in direct contradiction to what more than 100 humanitarian groups, witnesses on the ground, and multiple UN bodies have said.