Dear Friends of Israel,

In recent weeks, much of the media and its willing accomplices have propagated an amplified version of the insidious blood libel created by Hamas – that Israel is intentionally starving the people of Gaza and using famine as a weapon of war, which is a war crime under international law.

There is certainly some degree of food insecurity in Gaza – just as there is in any war zone at any time in history. However, accusations that Israel’s efforts to defeat the terrorists who carried out the horrific attacks of October 7, 2023, are the cause of widespread famine in Gaza, and that Israel is intentionally depriving the population of food, are simply not true.

The fact is, Israel has allowed an unprecedented amount of food and humanitarian supplies to enter the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war with Hamas, and it continues to do so. In sharp contrast to what any other army has ever done in a time of war, Israel provides humanitarian aid for the same population that – to a large extent – supported the terrorists who invaded Israel to rape, torture, injure, murder and take hostage thousands of Israeli citizens – men, women, children and elderly.

The false allegations that Israel is intentionally causing a famine in Gaza began almost immediately after Hamas initiated its war against Israel in October 2023. However, according to an early report released June 4, 2024, by the Famine Review Committee of the United Nations, there was no evidence of famine after eight months of war. This finding is particularly significant because the UN is not known for releasing anything that might vindicate the Jewish State. It is also noteworthy because if Israel had been depriving the population of food for that many months, the effect on the people would certainly be quite evident!

According to the UN, the term famine is to be used when a population faces widespread malnutrition and hunger-related deaths because of a lack of access to food. However, its own Famine Review Committee found no evidence of famine in 2024. Furthermore, an independent study published by the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research in May 2024 revealed that 3004 kcal of nutrition per person per day was entering Gaza via aid trucks. This is far more than the 1600-2800 kcal needed by the average adult or the 1400-2000 kcal needed by children!

Therefore, it is obvious that the false allegation concerning Israel's intent to cause famine in Gaza is nothing more than a modern-day blood libel against the Jews.

In addition to the two reports referenced above, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) issued a 2024 report titled, "Discrepancies in UN Aid to Gaza Data," that was corroborated by The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Both reports document how UNWRA (the UN agency on the ground responsible for the aid once it enters Gaza) consistently underreports the number of aid trucks that cross from Israel into Gaza.

In 2025, the underreporting on the part of UNWRA continued to worsen. According to a statement from COGAT on August 19, 2025, the United Nations only counted 3,553 trucks out of nearly 9,200 that entered Gaza since May, 2025. This statement followed the release of data by COGAT on August 17 that shows a significant increase in the number of aid trucks going into Gaza. A full report on Israel’s humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war is available on COGAT’s website.

All the evidence demonstrates that, contrary to Hamas’ libelous claim Israel is intentionally starving the people of Gaza and using famine as an illegal weapon of war, the Jewish State is feeding its enemy in the midst of an ongoing war.

Furthermore, in 2025, the amount of food entering Gaza drastically INCREASED in comparison to 2024! Between May and August 12th of this year, enough food has gone into Gaza to provide approximately 4,000 calories per person. As CAMERA’s David Litman points out, “That’s nearly twice the daily recommendation. COGAT, which tracks and itemizes the entry of all humanitarian aid, says that during the same period, over 182,000 tons of aid entered Gaza, 95% of which was food.”

All this data begs the question: if Israel is allowing such an abundance of food into Gaza, why is there any food insecurity for people who are trapped against their will in an active war zone? In other words, what is happening to the food?

The short answer is that the food entering Gaza is not getting to many of those who need it because much of it is taken by armed terrorists who use accessibility to food as a way to control the population. In fact, in early August, the United Nations admitted that 88% of the trucks had been taken by terrorists who then use it for their own purposes or sell it at exorbitant prices to finance their ongoing campaign against Israel. The food sold by terrorists is then used to stock groceries and restaurants, where those who can afford it are able to purchase all the food they need.

Indeed, pictures posted online by residents of Gaza show piles of food, open restaurants, and food being served in those restaurants. Here is one example of a post on Instagram on August 21, 2025 advertising the New Gaza Café in Gaza City.

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The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (the IPC) of the United Nations recently published a fabricated report designed to legitimize Hamas’s libelous campaign concerning widespread hunger in Gaza. In order to produce such a false report, the IPC had to break its own rules and change its own criteria for determining famine.

One way the IPC did this was by lowering the standard for what defines a famine. The standard the IPC uses in all other places in the world to define a state of hunger is if 30% of the population has been determined to be malnourished. However, in order for the UN to support Hamas’ lies about widespread hunger in Gaza, the IPC lowered its standard to 15%.

Even then, it is questionable that 15% of Gaza’s population is malnourished because every other report the IPC has given during Israel’s war with Hamas has proven to be completely false. Unfortunately, it is clear the IPC will go to great lengths to legitimize Hamas’ lies.

In response to the IPC’s report, including the alleged famine in the Gaza Strip and Gaza City in particular, the Coordinator of the Israeli Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), MG Ghassan Alian, stated:

"The IPC report is based on partial and unreliable sources, many of them affiliated with Hamas, and blatantly ignores the facts and the extensive humanitarian efforts led by the State of Israel and its international partners. Instead of providing a professional, neutral, and responsible assessment, the report adopts a biased approach riddled with severe methodological flaws, thereby undermining its credibility and the trust the international community is able to place in it. We expect the international community to act responsibly and not be swept away by false narratives and unfounded propaganda, but rather to examine the complete data and the facts on the ground."

Complete data and facts on the ground demonstrate that Israel has allowed an increasing amount of aid into Gaza since May 2025, more than enough for every single person.

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According to the IPC, famine is to be declared when the death rate in a population is at least 2 deaths per 10,000 people per day, or 4 per 10,000 among children under five, in addition to other evidence of extreme food deprivation.

Gaza City has an estimated population of 400,000–800,000. This means there should be 80–160 starvation-related deaths every day in Gaza City alone if a famine was actually taking place.

However, the numbers do NOT provide any evidence of famine. According to Hamas itself, the daily number of deaths in the entire Gaza Strip in the last week were 51 deaths on Aug. 15; 70 deaths on Aug. 16; 47 deaths on Aug. 17; 60 deaths on Aug 18; 60 deaths on Aug 19: 58 deaths on Aug 20; and 70 deaths on Aug. 21.

Hamas does not distinguish, but these numbers include terrorists killed in active conflict with the IDF and people who died of natural causes. Even if the numbers represent people who actually died of starvation – which they don’t – they are not even close to what the IPC would expect just for Gaza City, let alone the whole Strip.

However, in direct contradiction of the numbers given by Hamas, the IPC still maintains that more than half a million people are experiencing famine.

All numbers given by Hamas since the beginning of the war have been shown to be inflated, so much so that Hamas itself has had to issue corrections at times. Besides the fact that Hamas is not a credible source, the IPC’s declaration of an Israeli-caused famine in Gaza is false for other reasons.

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• The IPC makes no acknowledgment of the fact that Hamas has stolen the vast majority of aid Israel allows into Gaza – aid that provides more than the required number of calories per person per day. The reality is that parts of the population have not received what they should because of Hamas’ theft and control of the supplies.

• No picture or video we see of Gazans, posted by Gazans themselves, shows a single person who looks malnourished. To the contrary, pictures of people receiving food distributions show two things: the people do not look or act as if they are starved AND the bottom line - they are receiving food!​

 

Yes, actual pictures and videos refute false allegations of extreme food deprivation in Gaza.

In stark contrast to actual footage, Hamas has released images of children who look like they are starving, and these images have been propagated by media worldwide. However, research demonstrates that these images have either been generated by AI, are pictures of children who have other medical conditions, or are pictures taken in other countries.

For example, Hamas recently posted a picture of a starving child held by his mother – an image that was then popularized by the UN, the New York Times, and others. The child does look starved. However, his mother and a sibling (who was removed from later versions of the picture) look perfectly healthy. When the identity of the child was researched, it was discovered that the child has cerebral palsy, which is the cause of his severe malnutrition.

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The use of this picture raises some obvious questions:

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• Why does only one out of three people in the original version of the picture appear to be starving?

• What kind of a mother would feed herself and one of her children and not feed the other?

 

The answer is that Hamas took advantage of a child suffering from an incurable disease to support its blood libel, which asserts Jews intentionally starve children in Gaza.

The fact is that Israel has gone further than any other nation in the history of modern warfare to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza - while still fighting the Hamas terror group.

If civilians in Gaza suffer from food insecurity, it is because Hamas and other terrorist organizations have prevented access to the abundance of food delivered on a daily basis. It is Hamas who has exercised control over the vast majority of the trucks once they enter Gaza from Israel. It is Hamas who has determined who is—and who isn't—fed.

Indeed, based on published studies and visual evidence provided through an abundance of pictures, it is obvious the only people starving in Gaza are the remaining Israeli hostages. They are kept in unimaginable conditions and intentionally deprived of food and water while their captors consume more calories a day than they need.

Worldwide media and all who swallow its lies should be ashamed of this latest unwarranted demonization of Israel. Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that Israel has gone above and beyond to provide for those caught in the crossfire of a horrible war. Rather than amplify the latest blood libel created by Hamas, the world should condemn Hamas for its ongoing crimes against humanity and call for an immediate release of all remaining fifty hostages held by terrorists who have no regard for human life.