1.4m people in Gaza expected to face 'high levels of acute food insecurity' by year's-end: IPC

IPC says 67% of Gaza's population faces crisis or worse conditions, with 212,000 people in emergency hunger levels

An estimated 1.4 million people in Gaza are expected to face "high levels of acute food insecurity" through December, up from 1.2m from mid-April to June, despite improvements driven by humanitarian assistance, according to a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released on Thursday.

The IPC said the number of people experiencing crisis (Phase 3) or worse conditions was projected to rise to 67% of Gaza's population, while 212,000 people were expected to remain in emergency (Phase 4). All five of Gaza’s governorates were classified as being in crisis.

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The October 2025 ceasefire has led to measurable gains in humanitarian access and overall conditions across the Gaza Strip, yet the situation remains deeply fragile.

The entire Strip is classified in Crisis (IPC Phase 3), and 1.4 million people are expected to face… pic.twitter.com/gbRgG7Q9kV

— The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (@theIPCinfo) July 23, 2026

The report said expanded humanitarian assistance following last October’s ceasefire helped improve food security and nutrition, with food aid reaching about 1.49m people in May. It warned, however, that rations remain insufficient, livelihoods have collapsed, and 83% of households report having no source of income, leaving most families dependent on external assistance.

The IPC cautioned that recent gains remain "highly fragile" as humanitarian assistance has declined since February due to funding constraints and uncertainty surrounding the operations of international aid groups. It warned that, without humanitarian food assistance, an estimated 1.9m people — about 90% of Gaza's population — would face high levels of acute food insecurity through December.

The report also projected that 74,200 children under 5 would require treatment for acute malnutrition by April 2027, including 11,432 severe cases.

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It stressed that only one in five children in Gaza currently had access to an adequate diet due to the limited availability of nutritious food, while nearly half of households received less than 15 litres of water per person per day for all uses.

Meanwhile, 24,600 pregnant and breastfeeding women needed urgent nutritional support.

The report underscored that recovery remained constrained by widespread destruction, with nearly 75% of homes and 70% of roads, 95% of agricultural infrastructure, and 92% of businesses damaged or destroyed since the war began, leaving households with few opportunities to restore livelihoods.

It also cited a joint World Bank, European Union, and UN assessment saying that since Israel’s attacks on Gaza starting on Oct 7, 2023, there had been an estimated $35.2 billion in damage to physical infrastructure, $22.7 billion in economic losses, and $71.4 billion in recovery and reconstruction needs, underscoring the scale of the territory's devastation.

The IPC called for sustained humanitarian access, expanded nutrition programmes and a permanent cessation of hostilities to prevent a reversal of recent improvements.

According to the report, armed violence has continued despite the October 2025 ceasefire, with drone strikes, airstrikes, and shelling persisting. It estimated that more than 900 civilians had been killed since the ceasefire agreement began.