White House appears to dismiss UN declaration of famine in Gaza

The White House appears to dismiss the findings of a UN-backed global hunger monitor after the latter issued a report concluding that famine had struck Gaza for the first time.

“We are looking into credible reports that the IPC recently changed its definition for what constitutes a famine,” reads a statement from a US State Department spokesperson.

The statement appears to be referring to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s (IPC) decision to utilize a different system to measure malnutrition in Gaza than it has used in other conflict zones.

To track hunger in Gaza, IPC used the Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) measurement, as opposed to the weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ).

Under MUAC, 15% of people measured need to be identified as acutely malnourished in order for a famine to be declared, whereas the threshold for WHZ is 30%. Israel has accused IPC of lowering its own criteria in order to conclude that there is famine in Gaza. In its report, the UN agency explained that it used the MUAC measurement instead of WHZ because the former is easier and cheaper to track amid the challenging wartime conditions.

The US appears to reject the approach and the conclusions reached in the report, with the State Department spokesperson saying that addressing the “challenging issues of getting aid to Gazans means honestly addressing problems for the sake of Gazans, who deserve better, not engaging in semantics.”

The spokesperson clarifies that the US still thinks the humanitarian situation in Gaza is a “serious concern” and that Washington is working to find ways to deliver aid to Gazan civilians in an active war zone where the Hamas terror group is trying to remain in power.

“Hamas is systematically promoting a false narrative of deliberate mass starvation to put political pressure on Israel,” the spokesperson asserts.

The US statement points out UN figures that show the vast majority of its trucks coming into Gaza over the past two months have been looted, arguing that food is going into the Strip but is not reaching those who need it most. Notably, the figures cited are from May 19, when Israel lifted its aid blockade over Gaza after 78 days.

Aid organizations say that the blockade helped spur the current hunger crisis and that the 22 months of war have led to a collapse of the humanitarian response in Gaza that was necessary to ensure that food continued reaching vulnerable populations at earlier stages of the war.

The State Department spokesperson says the US is focused on “getting aid to the people in need while implementing safeguards to prevent Hamas from stealing and looting the assistance.”