UN declares famine in Gaza, first ever in Middle East

The United Nations on Friday officially declared a famine in Gaza, the first in the Middle East, with its experts saying 500,000 people were facing "catastrophic" hunger.

After months of warning of the deteriorating humanitarian situation, the Rome-based IPC panel said famine was now confirmed in the Gaza Governorate -- Gaza City -- which covers about 20 percent of the Gaza Strip.

"It is a famine that we could have prevented if we had been allowed. Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel," U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher told reporters in Geneva, calling it "a famine that will and must haunt us all".

The Israeli foreign ministry on Friday categorically rejected the report, saying there was no famine in Gaza and that the findings were based on "Hamas lies".

"There is no famine in Gaza," said the ministry in a statement and slammed the document saying it was "based on Hamas lies laundered through organizations with vested interests".