Report from Gaza Reveals: What Happened to the Claims of "Mass Starvation" and "Genocide"?

[source: Walla News, October 2026]

For three consecutive years, one central claim has accompanied the fighting in the Gaza Strip, echoing through the corridors of the United Nations, the courtrooms in The Hague, and the front pages of the international press: that the State of Israel is pursuing a deliberate policy of “mass starvation” and “genocide”, while also causing an unprecedented humanitarian collapse.

Grave warnings issued by the UN’s IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) mechanism and by research institutes in the West repeatedly declared that Gaza was on the brink of—and even already experiencing—Phase 5, the most severe level of famine.

Yet the official 2025 mortality report issued by the Palestinian “Ministry of Health” in Gaza, a Hamas-affiliated body, and published just a few days ago, tells a different story. It allegedly exposes the dramatic and unforgivable (!) gap between the media campaign and the facts on the ground.

The data collected and documented by the Palestinian system itself leave no room for doubt, the author asserts:
There was neither mass starvation nor genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Official Data: Natural Mortality Amid a State of Emergency

According to the official report, a total of 24,650 deaths were recorded in the Gaza Strip in 2025. A breakdown of the figures reveals a clear factual picture:

- Deaths from fighting and direct violence: 17,286 cases (70.1% of all deaths).
- Deaths from various accidents: 1,584 cases (6.5%).
- Natural and nonviolent deaths (illnesses, chronic diseases, old age): 5,780 cases (23.4%).

When examining the nonviolent mortality rate (3.46 deaths per 1,000 people), a remarkable figure emerges:
This is almost exactly the same as the multi-year average for the Gaza Strip during the years of normal conditions before the war, which ranged from 2.5 to 3.4 deaths per 1,000 people between 2015 and 2022.

In epidemiological terms, this means there was virtually no “excess mortality” resulting from infectious diseases, extreme malnutrition, or the collapse of basic life-sustaining systems.

If the Gaza Strip had been experiencing mass starvation, nonviolent mortality indicators would have surged several times over, as has occurred in every documented famine in modern history.

Violent Death Statistics

During the fighting, approximately 75,000–80,000 people were killed (including Hamas militants).
By contrast, approximately 200,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the Gaza Strip.
The calculation is simple: for every two tons of bombs dropped, only one person was killed.
The conclusion is clear: considering that a single standard bomb is capable of killing hundreds of people in a densely populated urban environment, such a low ratio proves that the IDF’s military operations are not aimed at destroying the population.

Civilian casualties in Gaza are the result of Hamas’s deliberate strategy: building hundreds of kilometers of tunnels beneath civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and mosques, and using the population as human shields to increase the death toll and exert international pressure.

Demographic Resilience in the Gaza Strip: More Than 50,000 Births a Year — The Opposite of Genocide

Alongside the mortality figures, the report examined and presented another equally striking demographic statistic: during 2025, 50,227 births were recorded in the Gaza Strip. (Over the entire period of fighting, approximately 130,000–140,000 babies were born in the Strip.) This amounts to an average of approximately 6,000 births per month.

The implication is that the number of births exceeds the number of people killed, meaning that the population has actually grown throughout the period of fighting.

The natural population growth rate in the Strip has remained at approximately +1.2% per year, a figure that ranks among the highest in the world. This completely undermines claims of the systematic destruction of the population’s physical living conditions and of genocide.

The Gap Between Famine Warnings and the Data

The answer lies in the reliance of UN organizations, propaganda bodies, and non-governmental organizations on theoretical models, partial samples, and political statements, while ignoring the enormous quantities of humanitarian aid—food, medical supplies, and fuel—that were continuously brought in through border crossings in cooperation with international actors.

When it became clear that the dire predictions were not coming to pass, some organizations began attempting to redefine the term “famine” in order to avoid admitting that their research and methodology had failed.
The reality is 600-800 Trucks of supplies enter Gaza from Israel every day.

The figures from the Palestinian “Ministry of Health” undermine the foundations of cases against Israel at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court (ICC). The report’s importance stems from the fact that it is not “Israeli propaganda”, but an official document from Gaza’s “health system”. The Palestinian data themselves contradict the claims of the UN and the independent press.