A report from a U.S.-backed agency alleging that famine is advancing in northern Gaza was taken down on Tuesday night after facing criticism from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew. 

Lew stated that the report, published by the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), relied on “inaccurate” information and called its publication “irresponsible.”

“At a time when inaccurate information is causing confusion and accusations, it is irresponsible to issue a report like this,” Lew wrote in a post on X. 

Hours after Lew’s statement — a rare public rebuke by a U.S. diplomat of an American agency — FEWS NET removed its report warning of famine in northern Gaza from the FEWS NET website, a USAID spokesperson told Jewish Insider. 

“To address inaccuracies in the population data set, the FEWS NET Decision Support Team has taken down the December 23rd Gaza alert until further notice,” the USAID spokesperson said, acknowledging that the Gaza report had “methodological limitations based on the availability of data.”

On Monday, FEWS NET published the report, which warned that a “famine scenario continues to unfold in North Gaza Governorate.” By Tuesday night, a link to the report showed that it had been taken offline. 

The FEWS NET report described a “near-total blockade of humanitarian and commercial food supplies to besieged areas of North Gaza Governorate,” and stated that 65,000 to 75,000 civilians remained in the area, “including civilians who have been unable to or prevented from evacuating.” But according to Lew, that figure is “outdated and inaccurate.”

“We have worked closely with the Government of Israel and the UN to provide greater access to the North Governorate, and it is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000,” Lew wrote.

The report published by FEWS NET relied on “outdated population estimates,” the USAID spokesperson said, and it was published “without the benefit of further examination” by a review committee. 

USAID warned the drafters of the report to use the updated North Gaza population estimates in its report, but it was published anyway without them. 

“After reviewing the alert, USAID urged inclusion of recent developments and population estimates,” said the spokesperson. “When the alert was released without that consideration, USAID asked that it be made more accurate.”

Despite the organization being funded by USAID, “it provides independent and neutral analyses of food security,” the USAID spokesperson said. A disclaimer on the FEWS NET website describes the organization as a USAID project while noting that information published on it is “not official U.S. government information and does not represent the views or positions” of USAID. 

Israeli authorities have routinely clashed with the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations who allege that Israel is not doing enough to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza, while COGAT (the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), the Israeli body overseeing aid delivery into Gaza, has stated it is doing all it can in a difficult combat environment. 

After Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wrote to Israel in October giving the country 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Israeli officials worked with the U.S. to increase the amount of aid entering Gaza, prompting Blinken and Austin to walk back threats of consequences for Israel. 

A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem declined to comment.