Middle East: Netanyahu calls IPC Gaza famine report a 'lie'

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp resigned his post after a cabinet meeting failed to agree on sanctions against Israel.

"I see that I am insufficiently able to take meaningful additional measures to increase pressure on Israel," Veldkamp told Dutch news agency ANP after the meeting.

The minister said the steps he had proposed were "seriously discussed" but encountered resistance in successive cabinet meetings.

But his colleagues from two parties, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB), refused to take further action against Israel, Dutch media reported.

"I feel constrained in setting the course I consider necessary as foreign minister," Veldkamp said.

The Netherlands was among 21 countries that signed a joint declaration on Thursday condemning Israel's approval of a major West Bank settlement project as "unacceptable and contrary to international law."

In Germany, antisemitic incidents have risen sharply since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza.

Police figures show attacks against Jews rose 20% last year. In Berlin, many are afraid to openly show that they are Jewish.

The manager of an activity park in southern France has been taken into custody after a group of 150 young Israeli tourists was denied entry.

The man was detained on Thursday for "discrimination based on religion," prosecutors in the nearby city of Perpignan told the AFP news agency.

According to the prosecutors, the manager cited "personal convictions" as motive for banning the children from entering the Porte-Puymorens park in the western Pyrenees.

The group of 150 Israeli holidaymakers — all of them minors aged 8 to 16 — were denied entry "even though a reservation had been made long in advance," the prosecutors said.

"This is not our conception of the Republic, this is not our conception of human dignity," Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told French broadcaster BFM TV, describing the incident as "serious."

The 52-year-old manager has no criminal record. If convicted of religious discrimination while providing services, he could face a prison term of up to three years.

Reported antisemitic acts in France surged from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023, in the wake of the October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas and the ensuing war in Gaza, according to France's Interior Ministry. The number dropped only slightly to 1,570 last year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the UN-backed report declaring famine in parts of the Gaza Governate, calling it "an outright lie."

Netanyahu said the report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which says at least 514,000 people are currently experiencing famine, ignored humanitarian steps by Israel in recent weeks.

"Israel does not have a policy of starvation, Israel has a policy of preventing starvation," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Friday said the confirmation of famine in Gaza City was "utterly horrifying."

Lammy went on to call the famine a "man-made catastrophe" of the Israeli government's making.

"The confirmation of famine in Gaza City and the surrounding neighbourhood is utterly horrifying and is wholly preventable," he said in response to the UN-backed Famine Review Committee

"The Israeli government's refusal to allow sufficient aid into Gaza has caused this man-made catastrophe. This is a moral outrage."

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported for the first time earlier on Friday that it has "reasonable evidence" famine has been occurring in Gaza Governorate, an administrative region, which includes Gaza City. 

"The IPC report makes clear the sickening consequences, especially for children," Lammy said. "The government of Israel can and must immediately act to stop the situation deteriorating any further."

Following calls to recognize a Palestinian state, a German government spokesman said Berlin had no plans to do so as it could undermine efforts of negotiating a two-state solution with Israel.

"A negotiated two-state solution remains our goal, even if it seems a long way off today. The recognition of Palestine is more likely to come at the end of such a process and such decisions would now be rather counterproductive," the spokesperson said during a press conference.

Countries including the United Kingdom, France and Australia have said they would recognize a Palestinian state at the upcoming UN General Assembly in September, although all under vastly different conditions.

After a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed famine in parts of Gaza, Germany's Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan has called for more aid to reach to Gaza Strip.

"More and more people — especially children — are starving to death before our eyes," she said. "This cannot go on. The famine is entirely man-made."

"Access to aid deliveries has improved slightly, but the IPC report also shows that this is far from enough. An immediate ceasefire is needed, and at the same time, Hamas must release the hostages immediately and unconditionally," Alabali Radovan added.

Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the famine declared by a UN-backed body in parts of northern Gaza is a "direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government."

He added that "it is a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare."

Türk's statement to reporters came after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said it had "reasonable evidence" that a famine is occurring.

A formal declaration of famine by the IPC meets three criteria: at least 20% of households face an extreme lack of food, at least 30% of children suffer acute malnutrition, and two people for every 10,000 die each day due to "outright starvation."

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the famine was preventable if the UN had not been barred from delivering food aid.

"It is a famine that we could have prevented if we had been allowed. Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel," Fletcher said.

Israel has denied the IPC assessment of famine, saying the report was based on "methodological flaws" and "unreliable sources."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday described conditions in the Gaza Strip as a "man-made disaster," adding that Israel was obliged under international law to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid.

"We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity," he added.

 

Israel on Friday rejected a UN-backed report by a global hunger monitor declaring that a famine is currently occurring in Gaza City.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry statement said there was no famine in Gaza, and that the food security report was "based on Hamas lies laundered through organizations with vested interests."

The world's foremost authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said earlier Friday that it has "reasonable evidence" that famine has been occurring in Gaza Governorate, an administrative region, which includes Gaza City, since August 15.

It is the first time the IPC has declared a famine in the Middle East.

COGAT, the Israeli authority that coordinates civil affairs regarding Palestinians, also rejected the IPC findings, accusing Hamas of carrying out a "false starvation campaign."

"COGAT firmly rejects the claim of famine in the Gaza Strip, and particularly in Gaza City. Previous reports and assessments by the IPC have repeatedly been proven inaccurate and do not reflect the reality on the ground," it said.

Israel has previously announced measures to allow more aid into Gaza. Humanitarian organizations have warned for months that the level of food aid is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of the population.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on Friday that Gaza City would be completely destroyed if Hamas does not agree on Israel's conditions for ending the war, which include the release of all hostages and complete disarmament.

"Soon, the gates of hell will open upon the heads of Hamas's murderers and rapists in Gaza — until they agree to Israel's conditions for ending the war," Katz posted on X after operational plans for military action in Gaza City were approved.

Katz added that if Hamas militants did not agree to the terms, Gaza City would end up like the cities of Rafah and Beit Hanoun, which have been largely razed by Israeli bombing since the start of the war in October 2023. Hamas has rejected disarming as part of a ceasefire deal.

Gaza City is one of the last places in the entire Palestinian enclave that still has basic operating infrastructure.

Israel's plans to take over Gaza City have been widely condemned as exacerbating an ongoing humanitarian crisis among Palestinians in the territory, while potentially endangering the lives of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas militants.  

Katz said the plans include relocating Gaza City's residents, which number around 1 million plus hundreds of thousands of people displaced from other parts of Gaza.

Humanitarian organizations have said another mass displacement of Palestinians is unfeasible, since other areas of the enclave have been largely destroyed and there are not enough operational medical facilities outside of Gaza City.

The operational plans for the Gaza City offensive were approved Thursday after a meeting of the Israeli Security Council.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Hamas militants are continuing to organize attacks from Gaza City, and the military mission is to destroy the militant's stronghold while pushing to rescue the remaining hostages, of which around 20 are believed to still be alive.

Parts of Gaza are now experiencing famine, marked by widespread starvation, destitution and death, according to the latest report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

More than half a million people are facing the most severe, or "catastrophic," levels of food insecurity, the UN-backed assessment found.

This is the first time a famine has been officially confirmed in the territory. 

A further one million people, more than half the population, are in an emergency situation, while nearly 400,000 are in crisis, the report said.

In order to declare a famine, the IPC has three criteria, at least 20% of households face an extreme lack of food, at least 30% of children suffer acute malnutrition, and two people for every 10,000 die each day due to "outright starvation."

Conditions are expected to worsen between mid-August and the end of September, with famine projected to spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.

After a global outcry at Israel's severe restrictions on aid from March, the Israeli military began allowing a limited amount of food into Gaza in late July.

The findings come as Israel has renewed military operations in Gaza City.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a plan to capture Gaza City and floated the idea of fresh ceasefire negotiations with Hamas.

On Friday morning, his defense minister threatened to open "the gates of hell" if the militant group doesn't agree to Israel's conditions for ending the war in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the world's leading hunger monitor, has officially declared a famine in parts of Gaza.

We'll be covering reactions to all of this, along with other developments from across the Middle East, right here in this blog.