The determination comes after months of warnings by aid groups that Israel’s restrictions of food and other aid into Gaza were causing starvation among Palestinian civilians.

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.

Displaced Palestinian women said they’ve been living in a famine for “two years” after food security authority IPC announces famine in Gaza for the first time.

Israel has systematically obstructed food entering Gaza, aid agencies say, as a UN-backed body confirms a famine.

The head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency on Thursday voiced concern that children suffering from malnutrition in Gaza will die if emergency provisions are not immediately put in place during Israel's Gaza City military operation.