On his Making Sense podcast, philosopher, neuroscientist, and author Sam Harris (@samharrisorg) explains that the “famine in Gaza” narrative was a hoax. Famine has a specific definition. Under the IPC framework, it requires extreme food insecurity, widespread child malnutrition, and at least two non-trauma deaths per 10,000 people every day. In Gaza, that mortality threshold would equal roughly 420 starvation deaths daily. Yet the Palestinian Authority's own statistics reported 66 total starvation deaths by July 2025. A study of COGAT aid deliveries also found that food entering Gaza frequently exceeded the humanitarian minimum of 2,100 calories per person per day. Gaza never met the famine threshold. So the standard was lowered in order to fabricate one.