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 25 Palestinians sheltering in tents or seeking scarce food aid.

Israel says "there is no famine in Gaza" after the IPC reports more than 500,000 people in the Strip are facing "starvation, destitution and death".

For now the famine is centred in the governorate of Gaza, one of five in the strip. It is the most densely populated and home to Gaza city. By the end of September, famine is expected to spread south to the governorates of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis (see maps).

The world's leading authority on food crises has determined that the Gaza Strip's largest city is now gripped by famine.

A UN-backed body says more than half a million people across Gaza are facing "starvation, destitution and death".

Saudi Arabia on Friday said it was extremely worried about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip after a UN-backed report confirmed for the first time famine in an area of the war-devastated territory.