Hamas says confirmation of the famine taking place in Gaza by the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is “important”, despite it coming “very late after long months of warnings,” according to Al Jazeera.

“We have repeatedly warned that the policies of blockade, systematic starvation, and the denial of food, medicine, and water to our people constitute a full-fledged genocide. Today, UN reports confirm to the entire world the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe our people are experiencing,” it said in a Friday statement on Telegram.

“The occupation’s criminal denial of this documented fact, and its false claims that there is no famine in Gaza, reveal a criminal mentality that deliberately lies to cover up the murder by starvation practiced against children, women, and the sick, in flagrant defiance of all international laws and norms,” it added.
The group resistance movement says the international community “bears an urgent legal and moral responsibility to stop crimes against humanity and save more than two million people facing genocide, starvation, and the systematic destruction of all necessities of life”.
Hamas said the report must be followed up with:
- Immediate action by the United Nations and the Security Council to stop the war and lift the blockade.
- Unrestricted opening of the crossings for the urgent and sustained entry of food, medicine, water and fuel.
- Holding the occupation legally accountable for its use of starvation as a weapon of war, as it constitutes a war crime and genocide under international law.