Trump State Department Rejects UNICEF Report on Gaza Starvation

The Trump State Department is pushing back hard against a fresh UNICEF report on malnutrition in Gaza. Officials say it completely shatters claims that Israel deliberately starved civilians in the Hamas-run enclave. This reaction follows an outcry from critics who pointed to a United Nations projection predicting starvation well into June. That timeline was quoted by much of the world's media.

Hamas invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The attack killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 Israeli and foreign nationals. In response, the Jewish state launched an invasion of Gaza. This action led to accusations of genocide and deliberate starvation tactics used against Gazans.

The UNICEF-led National Nutrition Cluster released its report last month. Researchers reached 1,335 children under age 5 throughout 83% of the Gaza Strip to assess their risk. They measured malnutrition using weight-for-height Z-score figures and mid-upper-arm circumference measurements. Using WHZ data, rates ranged from 0.2% in Khan Younis and Rafah up to 0.8% in Gaza City. MUAC measurements found similar results ranging from 1.5% in Gaza City to 1.9% in Deir Al-Balah.

About 17% of the population could not be surveyed due to security and operational constraints. A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that UNICEF's latest findings demonstrate another example that completely shatters the countless false allegations against Israel of deliberate starvation. The spokesperson added that there are U.N. entities, media outlets and NGOs that should retract their politicized attacks on Israel – which has provided an unprecedented over 2 million tons of food into Gaza since the ceasefire.

The rates of malnutrition UNICEF documented are on par with or substantially lower than those in some neighboring countries. An Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities post on X noted acute malnutrition figures range from 1.3% in Gaza, Lebanon and Turkey to 2.3% in Jordan. Egypt sits at 3.3%, Syria is 12.2%, and Sudan reaches a staggering 17.7%.

UNICEF's report has raised ire from onlookers who took issue with the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification statement that famine was confirmed in Gaza in August 2025. The catalyst for this uproar was an IPC warning that famine had reached Gaza Governorate at that time. They estimated through June 2026 that at least 132,000 children under 5 are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition. This includes 41,000 severe cases where children would be at heightened risk of death.

The IPC is expected to release a full report on conditions in Gaza in the coming days. Before releasing it, they assessed that the Gaza Strip would be in Phase 2, the alert phase for malnutrition, between July and December 2026. They state that 74,200 children aged 6–59 months will likely require treatment for acute malnutrition through April 2027, with more than 11,400 severe cases expected.

UNICEF's July report found very few confirmed nutrition-related deaths have been reported during treatment in Gaza. The IPC did not respond to questions about UNICEF's findings or whether they stood by their prior claims that famine had been reached in Gaza. A State Department spokesperson added that the United States, in coordination with Israel, has facilitated humanitarian assistance while taking important steps to prevent Hamas from diverting or looting aid. This provides more support to Gazans.

President plans a bold rebuild of Gaza, and that work is already moving forward through the Board of Peace to disarm Hamas and remove it as a threat to Israel. Andrew Fox, a senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society who has studied the war closely, told Fox News Digital that new data shows famine claims in Gaza were pure hysteria. He noted small pockets of hunger did occur but said distribution issues caused them. Once again, international groups removed Hamas from the blame conversation for Gaza's suffering and stoked anti-Israel narratives instead.

Prof. Aron Troen, director of the Nutrition and Brain Health Laboratory at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, called UNICEF findings very good news to Fox News Digital. He remarked it was remarkable that an area once labeled as facing deliberate political famine now has conditions better than other places in the Arab world thanks to current measures. Christian leaders met recently in Jerusalem for an emergency summit against a global rise in antisemitism. Troen stressed open minds are needed when assessing humanitarian needs. He decried narratives surrounding the report that serve specific political agendas.

Kurtis Cooper, Chief of Global Media at UNICEF, explained the nutrition survey measures conditions in mid-2026. This came more than nine months after the IPC confirmed famine in August 2025 and after a ceasefire with scaled-up aid. The study does not tell us what happened in August 2025 because it was never designed for that purpose. Cooper said during the period covered by the analysis, programs detecting malnutrition largely operated while blanket supplementary feeding had ceased due to severe access constraints and supply disruptions. Program data show a clear trend: admissions for treating acute malnutrition peaked at nearly 17,000 children in August 2025 before falling to around 3,100 by May 2026.

Cooper declined to answer questions comparing WHZ rates measured in Gaza with those in other countries facing widespread human suffering. In May, UNICEF reported almost 100,000 children in Sudan were admitted for treating severe acute malnutrition between January and March. They estimated 825,000 children under five would face this crisis in Sudan during 2026. Andrew Fox called on leading organizations to publicly retract their error-filled papers. He explained their mistakes paved the way for an explosion in global antisemitism and these groups must own that role while making amends as loudly as possible. According to the J7 Large Communities Task Force Against Antisemitism, 2025 was the deadliest year globally since 1994 for such attacks.