The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said Friday that famine was occurring in Gaza City, and is likely to spread to the southern

Hospital officials in Gaza say Israeli strikes and gunfire have killed at least 33 Palestinians sheltering in tents or seeking scarce food aid.

More than half a million people in and around Gaza City are facing catastrophic conditions “characterized by starvation, destitution and death,” the IPC said.

Food-security experts said a famine has taken hold in the Gaza City area, the first-ever such determination in the Middle East and one that puts more pressure on Israel.

The report also found that more than half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing Phase 5 conditions, which are characterized as catastrophic levels of food insecurity. About 1.07 million people, 54% of the population, are facing Phase 4 conditions, characterized as emergency levels of food insecurity.

Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine, and it will likely spread, a global hunger monitor determined on Friday, an assessment that will escalate pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the Palestinian territory.

Israel’s defense minister warned on Friday that Gaza City could be destroyed unless Hamas accepts Israel’s terms, as the country prepares for an expanded offensive in the area

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to turn Gaza City "into Rafah and Beit Hanoun," meaning leaving it in ruins, unless the militant group Hamas agrees to Israel's conditions for ending the war.