israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has dismissed the United Nation’s declaration of famine in Gaza and called it an “outright lie” and “modern blood libel”.

A blood libel is an accusation that Jewish people murdered and used the blood of Christians for religious rituals. It was perpetrated through the Middle Ages until the early 20th century.

The Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC), a UN-backed tool developed in order to improve food security analysis and decision-making, said in a report that half a million people in Gaza are trapped in famine. By the end of September, more than 6,40,000 people will face “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity, categorised as IPC Phase 5.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, there have been 281 deaths from hunger, of whom 114 were children.

However, Netanyahu wrote on his X account that, “Israel has no policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation. The only ones deliberately starved in Gaza are the Israeli hostages. This is a modern blood libel, spreading like wildfire through prejudice”, adding that the “Hamas-orchestrated “starvation campaign”” will not stop Israel from freeing hostages and eliminating Hamas.

On the other hand, he quoted UN data according to which, in July, “of 1,012 aid trucks collected, only 10 reached warehouses; the rest were looted before distribution.”

He agreed that although there had been ” temporary shortages” of aid in Gaza, Israel overcame it “with airdrops, maritime deliveries, safe transport routes and GHF distribution points manned by American companies.”

The statement did not mention the 11-week aid blockade in Gaza that Israel imposed, after the ceasefire-hostage deal in March collapsed.