Displaced Palestinian women in Gaza City reacted to the latest announcement by the world’s leading authority on food crises.

It said the Gaza Strip’s largest city is gripped by famine and warned it is likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and the lifting of restrictions on humanitarian aid.

The women also said there's no place to go to after Israeli leaders warned on Friday that Gaza’s largest city would be destroyed unless Hamas yields to Israel’s terms.

"We are unable to walk because of the lack of food. Why are they doing this to us? Aren't we human beings like them? They are human beings, and we are human beings — whether Jews, Arabs or Christians," said Rabiha Abu Odeh, an elderly woman displaced from Beit Hanoun.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said famine is occurring in Gaza City, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and that it could spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month.

The IPC determination comes after months of warnings by aid groups that Israel's restrictions of food and other aid into Gaza, and its military offensive, were causing high levels of starvation among Palestinian civilians, particularly children.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied there is hunger in Gaza, calling reports of starvation “lies” promoted by Hamas.

After the publication of images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of hunger-related deaths, Israel announced measures to let more humanitarian aid in.

Yet the U.N. and Palestinians in Gaza say what's entering is far below what's needed.

The Israeli military agency in charge of transferring aid to the territory rejected the report Friday, calling it “false and biased.”

A day after Netanyahu said he would authorize the military to mount a major operation to seize Gaza City, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that it could “turn into Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” areas largely reduced to rubble earlier in the war.

Israel says Gaza City is still a Hamas stronghold, with a network of militant tunnels, after several previous large-scale raids.

The city is also home to hundreds of thousands of civilians, some who have fled from other areas, and contains some of the strip’s critical infrastructure and health facilities.

Many Israelis also fear an assault could doom the roughly 20 hostages who have survived captivity since Hamas-led militants’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack.

Aid groups and international leaders warn it would worsen Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

"We've been living through a famine for two years. What will the organizations announce? We're starving. We eat once a day. Will we be hungrier than we are now?" said Dalia Shamali, a woman displaced from al-Shijaiya, east of Gaza City.

AP video shot by Abdel Kareem Hana

Production by Wafaa Shurafa