New York [US], August 22 (ANI): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday lamented the condition in Gaza, as a famine was officially declared there.

As per the UN, more than half a million Palestinians are facing catastrophic famine conditions, which include starvation, destitution and death.

'Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: 'famine',' Guterres said in a post on X.

https://x.com/antonioguterres/status/1958816495636545875

https://x.com/UN/status/1958875058136289340

https://x.com/UNHumanRights/status/1958832464752697531

Meanwhile, Israel has called the allegations as 'fake campaign'.

'The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has just published a 'tailor-made' fabricated report to fit Hamas's fake campaign. Unbelievably, the IPC twisted its own rules and ignored its own criteria just to produce false accusations against Israel: the IPC changed its own global standard, cutting the 30% threshold to 15% for this report only, and totally ignoring its second criterion of death rate, solely to serve Hamas's fake campaign,' the Israel Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.

https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1958816553002045946

https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1958825057087557673

https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1958829730574045441

'In other countries, the IPC declares famine at 30% malnutrition. In Gaza only, the UN-backed IPC lowered the bar to 15% and it is based on unreliable data. They didn't find famine - so they forged one,' Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a post on X.

https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1958842982511050943

COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories: Judea and Samaria and towards the Gaza Strip), an NGO for Israel, said that they have facilitated the flow of aid since May. It is alleged that the IPC report is inaccurate and does not reflect the reality on the ground.

'Previous reports and assessments by the IPC have repeatedly been proven inaccurate and do not reflect the reality on the ground. The report deliberately disregards data that was provided to its authors in a meeting held prior to its publication, and completely overlooks the efforts made in recent weeks to stabilise the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,' COGAT stated in a post on X.

https://x.com/cogatonline/status/1958816664432386437

Ambassador of Israel to the European Union, Avi Nir-Feldklein said that Israel had allocated nearly twice the budget for Palestinian refugees compared to any other refugee population, and that the famine report was false.

https://x.com/avraham_nir/status/1958851225895498159

https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1958881852833292356

The conflict between Israel and Gaza has killed at least 62,192 people and wounded 157,114, while 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 people were taken captive, as per Al Jazeera. (ANI)