The Israeli ambassador to Portugal, Oren Rozenblat, reiterated on Friday that “there is no hunger in Gaza.”
In an interview, Rozenblat responded to the assessment made by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which is part of the United Nations (UN), claiming that the report uses different criteria in Gaza than it does in the rest of the world to determine the presence of hunger in the enclave.
“This report is very interesting because the IPC has one criterion for hunger worldwide and another criterion for Gaza,” argued the Israeli ambassador, who again maintained that the images of purported hunger in the enclave are part of “Hamas’s propaganda campaign.”
“There is no hunger, there has never been hunger, and no one died from hunger in Gaza. We may see skinny children, but that is because they are severely ill,” he reiterated, showing a photo of a mother holding her emaciated child, with the supposed sibling beside them. “If it were true, the mother and the sibling would also be skinny,” he argued.
Ambassador says Israel allows food entry “for ethics”
During the interview, Rosenblat also argued that Israel has no obligation to assist the Gaza Strip under International Humanitarian Law—only to allow international aid, and not in all circumstances.
“This is the first war worldwide in which one side has to help the other with food,” he stated, adding, “We do not need to send food.”
“We need to allow the entry of humanitarian aid if it doesn’t help the enemy, and of course it does,” he defended. Nonetheless, “we do this due to our ethics, not because of International Humanitarian Law.”
He concluded: “More than two million tons of humanitarian aid have entered Gaza since the war began. That’s one ton for each citizen.”
500,000 people face “catastrophic conditions,” according to the UN
The UN and several other humanitarian organizations have consistently accused Israel of blocking aid trucks at the enclave’s entrance.
The IPC’s recent declaration follows months of warnings about a hunger situation in the Palestinian territory.
“This is a hunger we could have avoided if allowed. However, food is piling up at the borders due to Israel’s systematic obstruction,” stated Tom Fletcher, responsible for coordinating UN humanitarian affairs, at a press conference in Geneva.
According to IPC, more than half a million people face “catastrophic conditions characterized by hunger, misery, and death.” Additionally, “another 1.07 million people—more than half the population—are experiencing emergency levels of acute food insecurity.”
According to the UN, over 500,000 people face “catastrophic conditions characterized by hunger, misery, and death.” In contrast, Israel claims the report “is based on lies from Hamas.”
Márcia Guímaro Rodrigues | 10:15 – 22/08/2025
The United Nations determines hunger conditions using its specialized agencies based in Rome—the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)—which depend on a technical tool: the IPC, which is based on a scale of international scientific standards.
The United Nations (UN), fearing an “almost inevitable widespread hunger” in the northern Gaza Strip, utilizes stringent criteria to declare hunger in a specific territory.
Lusa | 09:05 – 02/03/2024
Netanyahu denies the existence of hunger in the Gaza Strip
IPC’s conclusions were also rejected by the Israeli Prime Minister in a statement quoted by the French news agency AFP, categorically affirming that “Israel does not have a policy of hunger. Israel has a policy of preventing hunger.”
In the statement, Netanyahu said, “The only ones deliberately starving in Gaza are the Israeli hostages” of Hamas, kidnapped during the attack on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today described the UN report declaring hunger in Gaza as a “blatant lie” and attributed the scarcity to Hamas.
Lusa | 15:58 – 22/08/2025
Guterres says the situation cannot continue “unpunished”
In response to the UN agency’s declaration of hunger in Gaza, the UN Secretary-General again called for an “immediate ceasefire,” the “immediate release of all hostages,” and “full and unrestricted humanitarian access.”
“We cannot allow this situation to continue unpunished,” said Guterres, as reported by AFP.
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Turk, also reminded that “starving people for military purposes is a war crime.”
UN chief António Guterres renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after hunger was officially declared in part of the Palestinian territory.
Lusa | 13:08 – 22/08/2025
